Any sort of reply will be useful, even if it is just acknowledgement, we can keep mentioning it and bugging them until something constructive gets done. I would go to the local police station but they closed it last month... stupid cuts... anyway what would be good is if the email gets sent to the police coordinator for the vehicle theft department. they need all the help they can get and even better if it is gratis. with little money around Im sure they will give it some thought

I even thought of something that we could provide a service to the police in some way.
Obviously the police are mostly not land rover experts, and would not know the things to look out for in a dodgy vehicle, so as we are all over the country, the police could request our help and I am sure one of our members locally would be able to offer assistance.

Please see below a letter I have sent to the Home Secretary today.

Dear Theresa,

I own a Land Rover Defender, and ever since I purchased her, I have had the constant worry of her being stolen and chopped up and sold for parts.

As you may be aware, the theft of Land Rovers, particularly Defenders is a growing problem. Last year over 1250 were stolen with only about 20% recovered, compared to a 50% recovery rate for cars in general.

A Land Rover isn't simply a means of getting from A to B, but is a lifestyle and a hobby for many of us. A lot of time and effort, and money, goes into our vehicles and to see them stolen is very sad indeed.

So I decided to try and do something about the theft of Land Rovers, and set up a Neighbourhood Watch type scheme for Land Rover owners to help combat the thefts of our vehicles.
The scheme is completely free to join, and allows us to post details of stolen vehicles, with pictures and information so that other members can be on the look out for the vehicle.
It is called LandyWatch, and the web address is www.landywatch.co.uk.

Land Rover Ownership is like a big community, when we pass each other on the road, we wave, so we are always looking for other Land Rovers on the road, and one being driven suspiciously, or by someone who isn't recognised as the owner of the vehicle pricks our attention. Having a way where we can post details of the stolen vehicles gives us more of a chance of being able to track down a vehicle if it is stolen.

We are developing a mapping system whereby stolen vehicles can be posted and viewed on a map, as well as the location of recovery of the vehicle and suspicious activity, it should allow us to recognise trends in the thefts in an attempt to combat them.
We have gained links with a company called SkyTag who produces the numbers for the roof of vehicles that are usually seen on top of lorries (and police cars) so they can be spotted from the air, we are producing window stickers with our logo that is similar to the instantly recognisable neighbourhood watch logo for our members vehicles.

We would like to get some sort of contact with the police to get help where needed, but with there being so many separate forces in the UK, getting a contact within all the police forces is going to be very difficult, so it was suggested to me that I should contact the Home Secretary to see if you can help set anything up nationwide.

We also keep an eye on eBay and other on-line car sale websites, but when we spot a suspicious vehicle being sold, it is difficult to get this reported to the police, as in the past our members have been told by the police to report it to eBay, but eBay tells us to report it to the police, so having someone to contact would be a great help.

If you could give us any advice on how to set up contacts within the police that would be excellent, as I am sure that if you can help us, we can certainly help you in combating the theft of these vehicles.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards

Rob, I can't print all of it off, it only shows the two "LANDY WATCH" green bits, what am I doing wrong ??
     RUSS.

Mine or Robs?

Edit, should have read it properly the first time...

If anyone is going to a show or event, or would like to hand out some of our Flyers at any 4x4 club meetings, they are attached.

Poster is A4 size and flyers are 2 per page.

I was surprised at Driffield when I was speaking to a member of the 4x4 response network that they had read about LandyWatch the evening before. He kindly pulled out this months issue of 4x4 Magazine and there is a section on LandyWatch.

I have uploaded a photo of the page for you to have a look at. Was a good write up.

Nice one Rob!

Hi All,

I will be attending the LRO Spring Adventure the weekend after next with our local Land Rover club and thought about taking some leaflets about LandyWatch for people to take as they pass our stand. I will be printing some large LandyWatch logo's to stick on my windscreen, but thought if we had some flyers that people could take away it would drum up membership to the site.

I was thinking about A5 size. Printing them is no problem, but designing them is a challenge.

Is anyone any good at design work, and could spare a hour to design us a flyer that would be great. I will print them and cut to size. I was thinking about our logo and then some information about what we are doing, info on the upcoming mapping system, roof markings, etc.

Anyone who could knock something up please post here. I have attached a large version of our logo to get you started.

Thanks