Swindon locals may have spotted some unusual figures trying their door handles over the weekend - the police.

That is because after a spate of reports of criminal chances committing car thefts, officers from the Stratton, Central Swindon North and West Swindon Neighborhoods Policing team set out to see how secure the area's cars were. 

During their evening of checking for insecurities, police revealed that they found seven per cent of vehicles had been left vulnerable to this type of criminal behaviour. 

A 'footprint' was then left by officers on cars that were identified in this way, to inform owners that they could and should be doing more to protect their property. 

A spokesperson for the neighbourhoods policing team said: "We know that this post will create a talking point about why we are posting about this.

"There have been a lot of reported incidents where opportunists have been targeting vehicles where they have been successful they have been targeted again."

To combat thefts from cars, the police added they were doing marked targeting patrols, social media campaigns, letter drops, door knocks, vehicle checks, area scans and arrests of suspects with curfews. 

They added: "The best thing we can all do is make sure our vehicles are locked and alarmed. If you see anything suspicious then please report this to Wiltshire Police."