LEIGH police and townsfolk have launched their annual clampdown on Christmas Crime.

Wigan and Leigh Community Safety Partnership has teamed up with Crimestoppers to fight the criminals in the yuletide run-up.

Under the scheme, Crimestoppers information will be sent to every household and business in the borough, and public buildings will display Crimestoppers cards and posters.

Crimestoppers is a partnership between the police, media and community to fight crime, with information from 392,000 calls to the special crime hotline resulting in 36,600 arrests since it was set up in 1990.

In 10 years the scheme has helped in the recovery of £49 million worth of property, with an average of 100 calls per month made to the hotline -- which guarantees anonymity -- from residents in the Leigh area.