|TOP|Police in eastern England are looking to God to help them catch vandals and burglars, as the Lincolnshire branch of the Christian Police Association is setting up a "Prayer Watch" scheme to alert Christians to local crimes.

Lincolnshire Police spokesman Dick Holmes has noted that the spiritual aspect could be a valuable by-product.

"In one sense it is similar to the conventional watch schemes like Neighbourhood Watch and Farm Watch in that it encourages congregations to keep an eye on church buildings," Mr Holmes said.

"They are prime targets for thieves and vandals and recently there have been well-publicised spates of trouble across the county.

|AD|"Obviously there is the spiritual element which lets communities know about specific incidents in their area so they can focus their prayers on them if they wish."

Christian groups will receive emails from the police alerting them to specific crimes, which they can then use to focus their prayers towards solving or preventing in the future.

The plan would encourage churchgoers to protect their houses of worship and each other. Police say it would also lead Christians to use prayer to help catch criminals.

"It's largely geared to protecting congregations and church properties which are pretty vulnerable places, but with the added bolt-on aspect of prayer," a Lincolnshire police spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.

Retired London policeman Don Axcell, the National Executive Director of the Christian Police Association, said God did answer crime-busting prayers.

"I'm a great believer in the power of prayer and all I'd say to the sceptics is that I've seen it work too many times for it to be a coincidence," he told the Lincolnshire Echo.