THE police and county council are working together to provide mobile phone safety advice to more than 75,000 secondary school pupils across the county.

As part of the scheme schools are helping to distribute 100,000 leaflets and 2,000 posters which encourage young people to record the security details of their phones, to have them security marked and to be sensible about where they use their phones. The campaign is also encouraging everyone to report the theft of their phone to the police and to pass on the phone's security details.

The police are also working in partnership with the schools to organise phone marking sessions at times convenient for the schools. They will also be working with the County Youth Service to distribute advice through the county's youth clubs and activities.

Gail Tolley, Chairman of the Hertfordshire Association of Secondary Heads, said: "Heads throughout Hertfordshire welcome this initiative which is a simple, practical way of helping young people to look after themselves and their property.

"We would like to thank Hertfordshire Police for their flexible approach in fitting in with school needs and I hope as many pupils as possible can take advantage of this scheme.

"It is important to remember that Hertfordshire is a county with a very low crime rate but we can all work together to keep it that way."

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Ash, said: "Mobile phone robberies are not as serious a problem in Hertfordshire as they are in other parts of the country, but the number of incidents has been rising and they are crimes which we treat very seriously."