PAMPERED pooches are to be in the frontline of crime fighting under a new community scheme.

Dogwatch takes ordinary dogs and their owners and turns them into the eyes and ears of the police force.

The scheme has been a success in Chiswick, and was brought to Waltham Forest by the chairman of North Chingford Community Council, Kevin Wyatt-Lown, who heard about it from dog owner friends who live in the west London area.

Mr Wyatt-Lown launched a pilot at the community council in Chingford Assembly Hall and got seven responses right away - enough to set up the scheme.

He said: "Dog owners and walkers tend to be the kind of people who walk in parts of the community where others don't and at times others don't, like late at night and early in the morning.

"We often walk in parts of the borough that very rarely sees a uniformed presence such as the roads near forest land and the parks.

"Dog owners also chat to each other, so a lot of information gets shared."

Mr Wyatt-Lown, who was the first to join up with his golden retriever dog Max, was keen to say that the human-canine partnerships could follow up leads but they should not put themselves in danger.

He added: "This is not about vigilante policing. We don't want anyone to put themselves at risk or walk in areas they are not happy to, or walk later in the night.

"All we are looking for are people who are happy to feed back community information that the police and other agencies can work on."

One resident asked if anybody would watch the dogwatchers to make sure they cleaned up the mess of their dogs.

Mr Wyatt-Lown assured her that they would all be responsible pet owners.

Acting Inspector Denise Canderton was at the meeting to register interested dogwalkers and said she wanted to encourage as many people as possible to join up.

"We hope it will raise community spirit and build closer links between people," she said.