A new campaign raising awareness of mobile phone theft has been launched by Kingston police.

Officers joined PubWatch members at McClusky's in Thames Street on Wednesday to launch the Love Your Phone initiative, which aims to drive down the number of people having their phones stolen during a night out.

To remind clubbers and pub goers to keep an eye out for their possessions, staff working in PubWatch-affiliated establishments will wear T-shirts bearing the slogan: "We'll take care of your drinks, you take care of your phones."

Phone theft is one of the most reported crimes in Kingston, although the number of thefts has dropped by 17 per cent in the last year.

The fall has been attributed to increased awareness, a dedicated police campaign and technology including ScanNet.

It is hoped the Love Your Phone campaign, which is being backed by town centrre managers Kingstonfirst, will help drive the crime numbers down even further.

Detective Sergeant Vicky Washington, from Kingston police, said: "It’s great to see the town centre venues coming together to tackle phone thefts in this way.

"We all have a role to play in making Kingston town centre as safe as possible.

"We want people to come to Kingston, to look after themselves, their phones and to go home having had a great time."

Ian Hamilton from Kingston Pubwatch said: “Kingston Pubwatch and all of its members fully support this initiative as it provides a clear reminder for all our customers to remain vigilant with their personal belongings.

"Theft reduction and prevention is of course a priority for all licensed venues and this initiative simply re-iterates to our customers the importance of keeping their phones safe, thus reducing and potentially eliminating any opportunities a potential thief may have.

"This initiative will be used in conjunction with other existing operational procedures to simply help Kingston’s venues deter the criminals from entering our premises.”

You can register your mobile phones at www.immobilise.com