I've mentioned the new police station several times and now at last we have taken it over from the developers so it's ours.

Well I suppose really it's yours (if you are a resident of Hampshire and IoW) as it belongs to Hampshire Police Authority who hold your council tax and the government grant which pays for local policing.

I certainly feel as though it's a building for the whole Southampton community and I hope we can make it a more open and friendly place for everyone, staff and public, who will use it from March 7. As well as a better building to use, another thing I want to be better this year is to make more use of different ways to communicate to people in the city about policing and what we are doing including using social networking and other internet based systems more.

I'd be really pleased to get any comments about how we could do that better.

An example of the type of thing I'd want to communicate more effectively is the fact that, as I have said before, we've got a problem with the amount of burglaries being committed in Southampton and too many people are not taking care of their homes and property.

If you have a home in the city then please do the obvious things like keeping valuables out of public sight and when you are out or asleep then lock your doors.

I said it was a bit obvious I know but it often doesn’t get done.

Don't make it easy for burglars and please report to us any suspicious things you see going on.

I'd be really pleased if our new station cells saw some burglars locked up in them as soon as possible!