POLICE officers descended on Hook at the weekend as part of a campaign to reassure the village community.

The initiative, codenamed Oper-ation Comfort, saw 15 officers manning roadside checkpoints and patrolling the village on foot, in cars and on bicycles.

The officers - both full-time officers and members of the Special Constabulary - arrived at 11am and spent 10-and-a-half hours stopping as many people as possible and knocking on their doors.

They asked them questions about crime and perceptions of crime in order to identify their worries and establish what problem areas they feel the police should target.

Local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators helped out - as did other agencies including the parish and district councils and local businesses.

Plain-clothed officers also patrolled, on the lookout for crime and anti-social behaviour.

This resulted in two arrests being made on Saturday night - one man was detained on suspicion of drink driving and another for going equipped to commit crime.

Pc Mike Taylor, the Hook beat officer spearheading the operation, said this was the opening "assessment" phase of a six-month period where crime and worries about it will be monitored and tackled.

The measures were prompted by statistics showing the perception of crime in Hook to be out of proportion to the amount committed.

He said: "The fear factor is worse than the crime and this is a pro-active approach aimed at making the place feel better. It is about long-term solutions, not a quick fix.

"The operation was very successful. We did better than expected in terms of the quality of information received from the public."

The police will also work on a second initiative in the area - codenamed Operation Hunter - over the next six months, which aims to prevent criminals from travelling into Hampshire from outside.

Pc Taylor said: "We don't want criminals coming into our villages. People will be able to stop and have a chat with the police during these operations and if you are a criminal don't worry - you will be stopped and chatted to too."

First published: Monday, March 14, 2005