Operation Snap is set to be the topic of conversation during a police visit to Tauranga next month.

Constable Bryan and his friend Bobby will be talking to children about how to keep themselves safe.

They will also look at how to keep people's family safe at home, at school and in the community.

Constable Bryan and his companion Bobby will be at Bayfair shopping centre in Mount Maunganui this November.

The pair has appeared on TV3 and TV4 and will deliver safety messages through their show to children in a fun and interactive way, says Tauranga South Police senior constable Leanne Fairbairn.

Leanne says Bryan and Bobby were introduced to New Zealand children in 2005 and work in association with the community policing initiative Bluelight.

The goal of Bluelight is to reduce youth crime and to build positive Police, youth and community partnerships.

'This is done by providing young people with a range of well organised and well supervised cultural, sporting, educational, social and entertainment programmes free from alcohol, drugs and violence.

'Bryan and Bobby will be visiting a number of local schools throughout the Western Bay of Plenty and will also be at Bayfair shopping centre on Monday, November 7 at 4pm outside Farmers, where they will explain the SNAP programme and be available for photos and autographs.”

Operation SNAP encourages children to look for and record serial numbers on electronic items.

Leanne says Bryan explains to kids why this is important and how they can help themselves and the Police stop crime by getting their parents and caregivers on board.

'SNAP stands for Serial Number Action Partnership which is an initiative created by police many years ago and re-launched in the Waikato area in 2010.

'Operation SNAP has created a website www.snap.org.nz. This is an easy to use site into which people can record their serial numbers and upload photos of their goods.”

This assists Police in three ways; it enables quick and easy retrieval of serial numbers by owners when reporting lost or stolen property to Police, it enhances the Police National Intelligence Application (NIA) and it assists in the recovery of stolen goods and the identifying of offenders.

'The public would probably be concerned at the amount of stolen property that has to be returned to offenders because something as simple as a serial number wasn't available to trace the legitimate owners of items such as televisions.

'It's well known electronics are an accepted form of currency in the drugs trade and by recording your valuables on SNAP you can prevent your items being transferred from the black market to the white and the offenders making money from the transaction.”