POLICE are spreading the word about Crimestoppers by dishing out 5,000 calling cards to locations throughout Wyre Forest.

Officers are leaving bundles of the cards at places including Kidderminster Library, Kidderminster College, Kidderminster Hospital, churches and GP surgeries around the district.

It is also hoped chemists will hand them out with prescriptions, stores will give them with receipts and major employers will distribute them with payslips.

Crimestoppers, run by an independent UK-wide charity, is designed to encourage people to phone with information that can help police detect and stop crime.

It can be anonymous - no names or addresses are needed - and the number does not appear on landline telephone bills.

Rewards ranging from £100 to £1,000 are also offered for information which leads to the arrest and charging of an offender.

As part of the campaign to promote the Crimestoppers number - 0800 555111 - officers are also handing out cards to victims, witnesses, offenders and members of the public.

West Mercia Constabulary's Crimestoppers co-ordinator, Steve Hill, who is based at the Hindlip Hall headquarters, is also available to give talks to interested groups in Wyre Forest.

Det Con Becky Marsh, of Kidderminster police, is planning to do a parachute jump in the summer, before her 30th birthday, to raise money for the scheme.

"Crimestoppers relies heavily on voluntary donations so I hope people will sponsor me," she said.

Since its launch in West Mercia in 1994, there have been 13,342 actionable calls, leading to 2,349 arrests and the recovery of more than £1.4 million worth of property and £605,799 worth of drugs.