A neighbourhood officer has joined forces with the East Kent Mercury in a bid to stop trick-or-treat nuisance calls in the run-up to Halloween.

Police community support officer Sara Orchard is hoping eye-catching colourful posters will be used to deter unwanted callers and they can be picked up at the newspaper office in Deal town centre.

She has been distributing the pictures along with other police community support officers and visiting schools to make sure the message reaches as many children as possible.

South Kent police media officer Jon Green said: “The Halloween poster was launched in the Dover district 10 years ago and is being used once again to tackle people’s fears over nuisance trick-or-trick callers.

“The posters were introduced by Churches Together in Dover and Neighbourhood Watch in 1999 and have been supported by Kent Police ever since. It has proved successful in deterring trick-or-treat nuisance calls and has now been rolled out to the rest of Kent and other parts of the country.

“It is designed for people who do not want to be called by trick-or-treaters as some find it frightening and can be intimidated by the experience.”

Mr Green said extra police officers will be out on patrol on October 31 and throughout half-term and bonfire nights to deal with any reports of anti-social behaviour.

He added: “This is part of Kent Police’s Not in My Neighbourhood campaign.”

Apart from the Mercury office at 13 Queen Street, Deal, the posters are available from neighbourhood officers and details available from the Kent Police website at www.kent.police.uk

Sara Orchard’s next surgery is at the Landmark Centre, High Street, Deal, on November 28, between 10 and 11.30am. She is based at Deal Police Station and can be contacted on 07772 225997.