PEOPLE who make bogus claims of mobile phone thefts are being urged by the police to "call us before we call you".

Hundreds of people each year are believed to have reported false crimes regarding the theft of mobile phones.

Many people do it to get a crime number which they can then pass to their insurance companies to make a bogus claim.

But today police have launched the start of an amnesty to crack down on the high number of bogus mobile phone thefts. And members of the public in Greater Manchester are being given the opportunity to come forward and clear their conscience about the false crime reports.

The major new initiative is being led by Detective Superintendent Gerry Donnellan, Greater Manchester Police's street crime co-ordinator.

It will free up officers time to investigate genuine victims of crime to receive GMP's full attention, help to cut back on increasing costs of investigating false robbery reports and improve robbery statistics.

The crackdown which is part of the force-wide Operation Hawk is being launched at The Hough End Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Chorlton Cum Hardy.