A beat bobby has logged on to Facebook and Twitter to communicate with students on his patch.

Campus Cops is one of the first profiles of its kind and was set up by PC Harvey Watson.

He said: "Students are really hard to reach as a community.

"I set up the site after finding out that 99 per cent of the students at the University of Leicester use Facebook or Twitter so it's a great way for me to reach them."

PCWatson has 91 friends on Facebook and 350 students are part of the group, University of Leicester police alert, where warnings about crimes and prevention advice are posted on boards.

Students can use the site to communicate with PC Watson as well as keeping informed with his updates.

Puja Jethwa, 21, had her laptop stolen earlier this year.

She has written to PC Watson via Facebook to thank him for his help in tracking down the thieves.

She said: "Facebook is a great way for the police to engage with students. Most young people think the police aren't going go to do anything and wonder whether it's worth even reporting things, but PC Watson was brilliant. I told all my friends to add him as a friend."

Another student called him a "super copper" on the site after the news that the laptop thieves had been caught.

PC Watson – who has been nominated in this year's beat bobby of the year competition – hopes that he can get even more people to join up when next year's students arrive. He said: "The site is a great way of breaking down the barriers that unfortunately the uniform builds up.

"As long as it works I'll keep it up and try anything new that comes along as well."

After his success, other beat bobbies across the county and Leicestershire Constabulary itself have set up pages.

Inspector Richard Toone, commander of Welford Road police station where PC Watson is based, said: "I'm really supportive of anything like this. Facebook is something students and young people use everyday so it's a great way to communicate.

"We need to deal with new media and try new ways of reaching out to people of all ages."

More than 50 people on PC Watson's patch signed a letter nominating him for beat bobby of the year, to be judged by a panel on May 12.

Clare Taylor, head of student welfare at the University of Leicester, said: "PC Watson is absolutely brilliant, he makes the police force accessible. He's incredibly helpful."