The police are launching Junior Crimestoppers, a free, anonymous phone line available to youngsters aged between 11 and 16.

It follows the success of a pilot project last February.

Organisers hope it will gather details about petty theft and vandalism as well as information about drug dealers and more serious crime.

The scheme, which organisers say is the first one of its kind outside of London to target those under 17, aims to challenge the idea that youngsters should not tell tales or "grass" on their mates.

Any information - it all forms part of a jigsaw Sarah Smithurst, Notts Crimestoppers

Anyone using the Junior Crimestoppers line to report a crime can be rewarded with top-ups for pay-as-you-go mobile telephones.

The scheme, operating from the main Crimestoppers line, was being launched by the Chief Constable, Steve Green, at Kirkby College in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.

Sarah Smithurst, from Nottinghamshire Crimestoppers, said: "You don't have to worry about being bullied or picked on, and you don't have to given information just about what's happening at school.

"It might be what's happening on your street, it might be where your grandma lives, if something's happening there.

"It doesn't matter, any information - it all forms part of a jigsaw and the more pieces we get, the bigger the jigsaw gets, and we can actually go out there and do something about it."