A STATE-of-the art police headquarters has opened to serve the people of Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley. But what are we getting for the £7.3million it cost?

Ian Singleton was one of the first to be given a guided tour of the Greenbank building in Whitebirk, Blackburn...

A WOMAN sits down in a spacious room and prepares to watch the latest DVD release on a Philips widescreen television.

This is the premiere and a private viewing. Over the next five minutes 11 similar looking people show her their front, left and right profiles.

It's repetitive but has an effect on her. "Number five", she says, "that's the man who did it."

Welcome to virtual police line-ups. No longer do police officers have to anxiously search town centres offering lookalikes of crime suspects £10 for an hour of their time.

Neither do witnesses have to feel intimidated by being close to -- and peering through one-way glass at -- the thug who assaulted them.

Suspects' profiles are now filmed and stored on disc. Then a technician searches a police national database of thousands of actors with similar features and matches come up.

All the chosen actors are saved onto the DVD along with the suspect. Several hours of police officers' time cut into several minutes. Already, since the equipment was installed on January 9, 24 line ups have been recorded onto DVD.

The Viper Suite is a £12,000 part of Greenbank which illustrates how the building's technology will increase the efficiency of the police.

But it also shows how the Eastern Division was relying on archaic equipment at the old Northgate building in Blackburn.

The first Viper Suite was used in West Yorkshire six years ago and they are now common across the country.

Even Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw was scathing about Northgate when opening Greenbank. He said: "I am not sure what possessed the architect to come up with a building like that.

"It was one of the least congenial workplaces, not just for the police service, but any organisation. The custody suite was dreadful, not only for people who worked there, but those who were being kept in custody.

"It is a testament to the police service that they managed to deliver such an impressive service to members of the public."

Police decided to relocate in 1998 after 70 new communication staff meant there were too many employees for Northgate.

Early in 1999, police identified land in Greenbank Business Park, Whitebirk, as ideal because junction six of the M65 was nearby and it would be easily accessible to the whole of the Eastern Division.

Building work started two years later and was finished nine weeks ago. The police's many departments moved over in December and its 450 staff are still adjusting to their new high-tech workplace.

The biggest thing that strikes you is how bright Greenbank is. Stockport-based Taylor Young Associates designed the building with the environment in mind.

Windows are seemingly everywhere as light is reflected off the white walls. The heat generated by this process has even been calculated and the heating adjusting accordingly to save money.

A ground floor courtyard acts as the canteen, with offices built around it over three storeys.

There is a major incident room, a briefing room and an improved call centre which, unlike Northgate, houses both telephone operators and police officers to ease communication: a simple step to improve efficiency.

Greenbank's finest section is, however, the custody suite. There are seven interview rooms where as Northgate had only three.

Chairs in these rooms are arranged in a circle -- there is no table separating police officer and suspect.

This new approach is a reaction to recent findings which suggest the traditional table builds barriers and so hinders interviews.

For the first time, the Eastern Division has two observational cells to allow officers to watch vulnerable suspects.

Previously, an officer would have had to cancel other duties and sit at the cell door.

There are eight juvenile detention cells and 42 adult cells designed to Home Office guidelines, plus a surgery if people need medical treatment.

People from across the whole of the division, on average 12,000 a year, will be detained here. Previously, each divisional station would hold people.

Six civilian staff have been taken on to meet the demand of running this larger operation.

The whole of the custody suite is covered by a video and sound recording system which captures every word or movement.

Police have installed this for the protection of officers and to capture evidence if a person commits offences while in custody.

However, the eyes and ears of this 'Big Brother' do not extend to the cells because of the Human Rights Act which stipulates that the prisoners must have privacy.

It will take the police some time to adjust to their new home, but, while officers are sentimental about Northgate, most are glad to be rid of it.

Chief Superintendent John Thompson, head of the Eastern Division, said: "There have been teething problems but it has been really well received by the staff.

"Northgate was 100 years old and it might have been all right then but we have outgrown it.

"It will have a dramatic effect and will make us much more efficient. The Greenbank building brings us into the 21st century."