After an intense and long drawn out period of negotiation with the City of Edinburgh Council, CENW are pleased to announce that 30 new and replacement Neighbourhood Watch street signs have been erected. These advertise to potential criminals that they are in an active Neighbourhood watch area.

As the good weather approaches, this can bring opportunities for criminals who carry out opportunistic or slip-in type crimes. We have been informed by Lothian & Borders Police that so far this year there have been a disproportionate number of break-ins and trying of door handles to domestic premises and motor vehicles across the city.

Please be alert to this danger and remember to keep your doors locked, especially your front door when out in the back garden. Open windows can also be an easy target, so remember to close them when not in the vicinity. Don't leave the key in the lock where it can be seen from the outside, and keep desirable items such as electronic goods, laptops and jewellery out of view from windows and doors.

If you see anyone acting suspiciously near to your premises please contact the police immediately with as detailed a description as possible of any person or vehicle involved.

Several reports of the following have been received happening in Clackmannanshire in Central Scotland, Fife area and Hillend, Edinburgh.

A well-dressed individual approaches looking for help. The male is often driving a Mercedes and the contact is made in either car parks or service areas. The story given is that the man has lost his wallet, or has had his credit cards/money stolen. He claims to be in desperate need of petrol and asks if you could lend/give him some money. In return he removes a gold chain or bracelet and a couple of rings which he gives you as a token of his thanks. He then offers to sell the rest of his rings/jewellery to obtain a little more cash.

Be warned that the items presented are not gold.

Police are requesting that any similar incidents should be reported as soon as possible. As always if you do feel under immediate threat however, then please call 999 immediately.

Please be on your guard when answering the phone, as there is a scam operating in which thieves try to obtain your credit security code.

CENW would like to warn residents that Currie is currently being targeted by a company offering "free" security systems in a decidedly dodgy cold-calling marketing campaign.

Although the security system itself is technically "free", the customer is conned into signing up for a ridiculously expensive long-term maintenance contract. Victims have discovered they actually signed up to a 5-year maintenance contract costing £138 per month, and have had great difficulty getting out of it.

The company has been operating throughout the country and are well known to Trading Standards officers and consumer organisations.

Please be on your guard. If you receive a phone call or visit from someone offering anything like this, please just decline and do not give out any personal details. If they persist or get aggressive then just hang up/close the door and call the police.

Beware of a current scam in which the caller attempts to get your bank or credit card details, pretending to be a representative from BT calling you about arrears on your account. The caller demands immediate payment of a supposed unpaid bill, telling you that otherwise a hefty reconnection charge will apply. In order to convince you he's genuine, he supposedly demonstrates he can disconnect your line, achieving this by simply muting and staying on the line when you hang up, thus making your line appear dead.

If you receive such a call, just hang up. If they call back just ignore it. Do not give out any personal details. BT would never call you and demand immediate payment over the phone.

Always be on your guard when answering the phone, and never assume the caller is actually who they say they are. If in doubt, hang up and call the organisation yourself using a number from a bill or the telephone directory (never a number given to you by the caller).

From PC Mike Smith:

Over the last weekend there were 4 houses broken into in the Currie area. These HBs took place in Bryce Road, Muir Wood Road and Weavers Knowe Crescent. Can I ask that you pay particular attention when locking up and if you see anyone suspicious then please call the police.

From PC Mike Smith:

Over the last week I have been made aware of a couple of bogus workmen operating in the Currie area. The MO has been to cold call at doors offering to tarmac or resurface complainers' driveways. The males have been extremely persistent and have called back a few times when the home-owners showed the slightest sign of interest in their services.

The work carried out has been of very poor quality and in some cases unfinished. The persons involved have always stated they needed paid in cash and have even offered to provide taxis to take complainers to the bank.

So far the elderly have been targeted but it is unknown just how much work these fraudsters have picked up in the area. Can I ask that if you have anyone at your door offering similar services that you call the police immediately. Also if you have been the subject a similar scam, please get in touch.

Gordon McFadzean and Jim Herbert paid a visit to Currie Primary School to talk about Neighbourhood Watch. They spoke to the P6 and P7 pupils who were very attentive and seemed to be interested in the work of CENW and Neighbourhood Watch in general. The children were given the opportunity to ask questions or comment on their own experiences and there were still hands up to speak when the session had to be ended to make way for the next class.

Among other things they explained that our Watch extended Eastward from Curriehill Road and that there was no Watch to the West. They pointed out that there was nothing to stop the children from encouraging their parents to consider setting up a Watch on the other side of the street to make the whole of Currie a Watch area.

On the whole, it was quite an encouraging experience despite one story: They explained the need to try to make houses look occupied when their owners were on holiday and that a good idea was to exchange keys with a neighbour so that he could open and close curtains etc. One lad said that his Gran had arranged this with her next door neighbour, but while she was away her neighbour had ransacked the house and stolen everything!

Edinburgh's fourth Community Recyling Centre at Sighthill is now fully operational at Bankhead Avenue in Sighthill. The facility takes an array of materials for reuse, recycling, or environmentally sound disposal: bottles (glass and plastic), paper, packaging, cans, car batteries, engine oil, garden waste, scrap metals, solid wood plus electrical and electronic goods.

The site also includes a Reuse Cabin, run by the Edinburgh Furniture Initiative, which aims to divert hundreds of tonnes of working household electrical items and furniture from landfill to assist families on lower incomes to furnish their homes.

Gordon McFadzean and Jim Herbert attended the inaugural School Watch meeting in Currie Primary School on behalf of our Watch. It was also attended by 6 or 7 police, several school staff, the pupils of Primary 7 and a journalist.

The meeting was addressed by Superintendent Martin Gordon who outlined the magnitude of the damage that was done by vandals to schools each year, the fact that ultimately it was the children's parents who footed the repair bill, that damage to the schools resulted in a poorer environment for the children and that the Police were very thin on the ground to try to stop it without help from the community. He said that Currie was the first place in Edinburgh that the Police were rolling out "School Watch" and the results in Currie would be closely monitored.