BURNLEY police station opened its doors to give residents an insight of what goes on behind the scenes.

The ‘Heritage Open Days’ event was part of a national scheme in which the public are given access to various buildings across the country.

Visitors to the police station were shown how the communications room is run, the different equipment used by officers as well as video footage of the police helicopter dealing with different incidents.

Security advice was given to all those who attended, with free security pens handed to adults and activity books given to the children.

And everyone also had the chance to see the mobile CCTV van in action.

Burnley Police Station, built in 1955, replaced the previous station under Burnley Town Hall.

It now stands on the site of the former cattle market, which was once the site of the Great Hustings meeting at Burnley’s first parliamentary election of 1868.

The site, which served as a fairground and later as a bus station, also accommodated the Gaiety Theatre.

PCSO Dave Johnson helped co-ordinate the tours. He said: “The Heritage Open Days are a fantastic opportunity for us to show people what happens on a day-to-day basis at Burnley Police Station.

“We had a lot of interest in the tours and had great fun sharing our police station with our visitors.

“Our younger visitors had their fingerprints taken for them to take home as a souvenir of the day.

“Sixty-five people attended on the day and we hope everyone enjoyed an insight into how an historical building can be used for a modern purpose.”