Turkey is getting ready to employ some 7,000 neighborhood guards in an attempt to curb crime and increase safety in the cities.

Officials from the Ministry of Interior told Anadolu Agency that upon President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's instructions, 7,000 new neighborhood guard cadres will be allocated primarily for Istanbul, Ankara, Mersin, Adana, Gaziantep and Hatay provinces.

Assignment process of 280 neighborhood and bazaar guards in the southeastern provinces Diyarbakır, Hakkari, Mardin, Şanlıurfa and Şırnak will also be accelerated.

In addition to the 7,000 new cadres, the current number of 5,392 neighborhood guards will also be gradually be increased.

Neighborhood guards are supporting policing forces that do not carry firearms and equipped with truncheons and whistles during their day or night patrols. Once very common in Turkey, the number of neighborhood guards gradually declined in mid-1980's and their cadres were absorbed in the national police force.

Due their close relations with their respective local community, neighborhood guards are often cited as an effective method to curb petty crimes in urban areas, and there have been repeated calls by the public for the reintroduction of neighborhood guards.