A number of people have been caught up with and charged recently due to the public coming forward and providing useful information to police.

Sometimes without evidence from the community, police have no chance of recording a conviction against alleged offenders.

A man witnessed driving dangerously was identified and charged accordingly after several members of the public came forward and gave details.

Another man was seen hooning around the city and was dobbed in by community members also.

He was discovered behaving like an idiot in nothing less than a stolen vehicle.

Police are no doubt happy they killed two birds with the one stone in that instance.

A lot of people are unaware of the fact that if they see someone doing something they shouldn’t be doing, their account of the event is considered evidence.

A colleague of mine saw a young man and his passengers throwing empty drink cans from their vehicle recently on a main road.

She didn’t know that if she had taken down the number plate and given it to police, along with her statement about the incident, police would have been able to build a case against them.

So we can all do our bit to help keep our community safer by remaining alert.

The police would love to hear from you if you have any useful information that may assist them in performing their job.

And you may just help them to catch up with someone who will be forced to think twice before doing anything stupid again.

If you see someone behaving offensively and it’s illegal, dob them in.

By Colin FAULDS