Villagers can now access the latest up-to-date information on criminal activity in their local area at the click of a button as well as lots more useful crime prevention information.
Subscribers to the free Crime Alerts service receive prompt e-m
ails about crime incidents in a chosen region or on topics which they're interested in.
Details of last week's attempted robbery at Knipton Post Office were posted on the website within an hour of the incident taking place.
The purpose-built Crime Alerts website has been set up by local freelance web designer David Stirling.
Other people who have supported the initiative include Waltham Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator and founder Rob Pilkington, Bottesford Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Brian Kelk and Belvoir Neighbourhood Watch beat manager Pc Mark Longden.
Mr Pilkington said: "When I set up Waltham Neighbourhood Watch about three years ago a lot of it was done by word of mouth, village magazines and neighbours talking to each other. This is a much more efficient way of collecting and sharing information.
"So far it has been very successful and we've had e-mails back from people thanking us for the great job we're doing for the community.
"We're up to about 120 new subscribers at the moment and the number's growing all the time. The next stage is getting some funding. We want to roll this out on a much bigger scale across Leicestershire."
Mr Pilkington said the initiative had received great support from the police and Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators in the Vale who feed in information.
The Crime Alerts website is: www.crimealerts.org.uk For more information about Crime Alerts e-mail info@crimealerts.org.uk
For more on this story see Thursday's Melton Times.
