Most of us only have dealings with the police after something nasty has happened to us.

Maybe we've come home to find our house has been burgled,

or woken up to find a space on the drive where the car should have been.

But the people of Upton-upon-Severn are being urged not to wait for crime to affect them directly before getting in touch with the boys and girls in blue.

There has been a spate of reports of petty vandalism in the town recently and the police, naturally, would like to put an end to it.

But they need your help.

Of course, they still want you to tell them if your wall has been daubed with grafitti or your window smashed.

But they would like you to get involved before the fact, too.

And that means attending public meetings such as the one held last night to discuss just what to do about problems such as these.

One member of the public who could be bothered to turn up was Bruce White, as our page two story reveals.

"I was late because I was trying to persuade people to come. They moan about vandalism but there is apathy out there," he said.

Where were you?

Upton beat manager PC Mark Taylor had plenty of ideas about how to nip the vandalism problem in the bud, from providing more for youngsters to do to setting up more effective neighbourhood watch networks.

But without any input from the community he's trying to protect, he's working in the dark.

So next time, please turn up.