POLICE in Nelson have joined forces with the Vicar and parishioners at St Paul's Church in Halifax Road in a bid to help slash street crime.

On Thursday December 12 local bobby PC Mark Craven will be visiting the church to give a talk on crime prevention and hand out 50 free personal attack alarms.

The move follows an increase in the number of bag snatches in Nelson.

PC Craven said: "Since we launched our Safer Streets campaign in April, detection rates for robbery and theft from the person have doubled whilst the overall amount of crimes committed has been reduced by over 10 per cent.

"However, over the past two months we have seen an increase in the number of bag snatches, which is a cause for concern."

Whilst patrols have been increased in hot spot areas and targeting work has led to the arrest of some of the offenders, PC Craven is appealing for the public to do their bit to help prevent crime too.

PC Craven thanked Father Andre McMichael, the Vicar of St Paul's for his support. He said: "It is very encouraging to know that local groups and individuals are willing to support our work, take on board crime our prevention advice and play their part in helping to drive down crime in Pendle."