POLICE are entering the animation age this week in a bid to get the car crime prevention message across to young people in Taunton, Wellington and West Somerset.

Car Thief Keith' features a character called Keith who attempts to break into a car.

When he breaks the window, a variety of weapons spring out of the boot and Keith is stopped in his tracks.

There are three different versions of the cartoon, each seeing Keith meet his end in a different way - by an AVSOM wackomatic, a plasma cannon or a freeze gun.

One cartoon per week will be launched on the Avon and Somerset police website and people can download the cartoons from here, text them to friends or save them as wallpaper.

The initiative is part of Relentless on Vehicle Crime, trying to get the simple message across to car owners that if you don't leave property on display in your car - there will be nothing for a thief to steal.

Victims of car crime predominantly fall in the 18-27 age bracket. Police have found it traditionally difficult to reach this age group using standard messages and they are hoping that these animations will interest the target audience and get the messages across in a new way.

Ch Supt John Long said: "This is about trying new ways of getting through to different audiences. Our standard ways of getting message to the younger audiences just aren't working.

"For years, the message hasn't changed - if you remove your property from your car, there will be nothing for the thief to steal. The vast majority of car theft is opportunistic - a thief is walking past a car, sees a handbag or sat nav on display, breaks the window and takes it.

"If the sat nav or handbag isn't there, the chances are the thief will walk on by and your car window will stay in one piece.

"This is such a simple message but we are still seeing hundreds of vehicles broken into across the force where property which has been left on display has been stolen.

"We are now trying different ways of getting this message across - if a light hearted cartoon is what it takes to get a serious message across, then that is what we will try."