Police are investigating after a building site in Inverness was broken into over the weekend.
Thieves raided a site next to the Inshes Retail Park sometime between Friday, May 20 and Monday this week.
They broke into a site hut and stole various items of safety equipment.
The stolen items are believed to be of relatively low value.
A police spokeswoman said: “Police are appealing to anybody who saw anything suspicious or has any information to make contact on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
The theft follows the recent launch of Construction Watch, a new initiative aimed at tackling thefts from building sites.
It will involve marking high-value equipment with forensic coded synthetic DNA in order to make it easier to trace the owners of items that have been stolen.
Police estimated that equipment stolen from sites in the Inverness area alone in the last year was worth about £130,000 – though police believe the figure could be far higher with many thefts going unreported.
At the north’s former regional commander Chief Superintendent Julian Innes said the initiative would prevent the Highlands from being regarded as a “soft target” by criminals.
He said: “I think Inverness is fully on the map with the publicity which surrounded the city funding deal. That will raise a few eyebrows, I’m sure, and people do think we’re a soft target here. They soon find when they arrive in the Highlands and islands that we’re not a soft target.”
He added: “I think if we can start today having a better conversation and building better relationships with the construction industry and they can see that we are taking their issues seriously then I’m hoping there will be improved confidence in reporting problems to the police. First and foremost, we would like to make sure that crime doesn’t happen in the first place.”
