A MASSIVE campaign will get under way in Bournemouth this week in a bid to stop residents becoming victims of crime.

All fresher students at Bournemouth University will receive a crime-prevention email urging them to lock their doors and windows, and officers will be making house-to-house visits to remind residents in person.

The initiative will run in Charminster and has been sparked by a higher-than-average number of burglaries in that area – 108 between June 2008 and June this year.

There were 79 between October 2008 and September 2009 – a reduction of 17.

Insp Mike Claxton, second commander for the north Bournemouth area, said: “Quite a few of the properties that are targets of the burglars are student accommodation.

“There can be four people living there and that means there are four laptops, four mobile phones and four iPods to hand.”

The campaign will run for the next two weeks and coincides with the new university term.