THE winners of a police competition to reward good behaviour over the summer holidays have gathered to collect their prizes.

The challenge was laid down by York Police earlier this year to 9,000 school children in the city to stay out of trouble. Those who entered the competition had the chance to win laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras.

PC Steve Skeoch, who organised the initiative, has been speaking throughout schools since January as part of Operation Discount, a crackdown on shoplifting.

He was at The Guildhall on Wednesday to hand out the prizes to the winners.

He said: “We had hundreds of responses out of the 9,000 cards we gave out. I was very pleased with the turnout.

“Out of the 40 winners only one was withdrawn because they did not meet the terms and conditions, so it’s a good success rate.”

Competition rules stated that entrants, who were aged from 11 to 18, should not have been convicted of a crime in the past two years and could not pick up a criminal record or be arrested over the summer.

PC Skeoch said: “One of the good things was that you got the gasp from the children thinking they had done something wrong when I phoned them so it was good to tell them they had won a prize.

One of the winners of the two top prizes of a laptop computer, 12-year-old Alisha Fox from Rawcliffe, said it was good to get the prize and it had been fairly easy to keep out of trouble.

PC Skeoch said: “Some people see shoplifting as a victimless crime and having no impact.

“They think there is no consequence of stealing from a big store, but it can have a big impact.”

He warned young people they could end up being arrested and convicted for even the smallest theft. “It could have consequences in to adult life when you come to look for a job, “ he said.