THE Argus has been praised for its part in helping drive down car crime figures in Gwent.

Between April and July last year there were 3,412 vehicle crimes reported. But thanks to a joint initiative between police and the Argus, figures for the corresponding time this year fell by 12 per cent - a decrease of 410 crimes.

Detective Superintendent Geoff Ronayne said: "I would like to thank the assistance the Argus' Car Safe campaign gave us.

"It had a significant effect in bringing down the car crime figures. "Through the Argus we were able to publicise crime prevention advice and details of car crime hotspots."

Last summer Gwent Police warned that vehicle crime was reaching epidemic proportions.

This prompted the Argus to launch its Car Safe campaign at the end of July last year.

The successful campaign aimed to: Raise awareness of how widespread the problem was and give advice on protecting property.

Make car-park owners more accountable for vehicle crime on their premises.

Expose car crime hotspots and find the safest places to park in Gwent. Reduce the car crime statistics.

Call for stiffer sentences for repeat offenders.

Police launched their own initiative, Operation Maple, in August 2003 that also sought to get car thieves off the streets.

Det Supt Ronayne said: "There has been a significant drop in the figures but we are in no way complacent and we are continuing to monitor car crime across the force.

"Car crime remains one of our priorities for this year and we aim to reduce it by a further 2 per cent compared to last year."

He said areas where car crime was found to be increasing were being given extra resources to tackle the problem.

The Argus' Car Safe campaign achieved its goals, notably when the operators of the car parks at Newport Retail and Leisure Park, Spytty, and at Harlech Retail Park, Maesglas, vowed to increase security.

Through readers' experiences and information from police we exposed the areas of Gwent where motorists were most at risk.