Dog owners urged to report suspicious activity

Dog owners are today being urged to report any suspicious behaviour, thefts or attempted thefts to Wiltshire Police.

Wiltshire Police launched its ‘Dog Watch’ scheme back in April to help improve confidence in pet safety across the county.

Although cases of dogs physically being stolen are very low, we are seeing an increase in people discussing suspicious activity and the potential attempted thefts of pets on social media.

However, we are urging people to make sure they report these issues to the police.

Inspector Gill Hughes said, “We very often see comments on social media, where people are warning other dog owners about a particular issue in a local area or an incident which they believe may have been a potential theft.

“All of this information can be vital intelligence which can help us build up a picture of suspicious activity and hopefully take action against would-be criminals.

“I would urge everyone to report these to us – you can either phone us on 101, or 999 if a crime is in progress, or fill in a form via our website www.wiltshire.police.uk”

To sign up to ‘Dog Watch’ please visit www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk – once you have signed up to Community Messaging – which alerts you to lots of things happening in your community – you can select Dog Watch to received Dog Watch information.