There are of course some things you have to take with you – your tent, money, beer. However, we would be a lot happier if everyone going to the festival didn't take all their brand new electrical gadgets so there weren't 178,000 iPods, mobile phones and digital cameras on site.

By far the most common crime at Glastonbury Festival is theft of mobile phones. However, police believe that a large number of these phones which have been reported as stolen have actually just been lost. To do this is a crime and should not be done just so you can get a crime reference number and claim on your insurance to get a new phone.

To increase your chances of getting your mobile phone, iPod or digital camera back if you've lost it, or indeed, had it stolen is to register it on the Immobilise database.

Hundreds of phones and other electrical equipment are returned to or recovered by police and are not reunited with their owners because we have no way of knowing who they belong to. Registering your phone or iPod etc on the Immobilise database can vastly increase your chances of seeing your phone again.

It takes a couple of minutes and it's completely free. You can register anything with a serial number on the website and every item recovered by police, or handed in, is checked against the database.

Therefore there is no reason to report it stolen – register it on this database and you have a chance of seeing it again if we've found it lying on the ground in the middle of a field.

Of course we would prefer it if you didn't take all your brand new shiny toys to the festival, but if you must then please take all security precautions.

Write your postcode on your stuff with a UV pen – this is invisible to the human eye but if your digital camera comes into a police station we will check it with our little lights and return it to the rightful owner.

Once you are at the Festival the best way to keep your stuff safe is not to flash it around.

Holding your mobile phone to your ear, while listening to your iPod, taking pictures with your digital camera and wearing sunglasses is like having £500 stuck to your forehead.

Be aware of your surroundings and who is around you when you whip out your wallet to pay for your pint. Don't take more money than you need – there is a cash point at the site so don't take hundreds of pounds with you all hanging out of your back pocket.