A MAJOR re-organisation of policing is planned after a high ranking officer admitted he was tired of being unable to keep promises to reduce crime.

Supt Steve Hartley added that mistakes had been made in tackling crime and that he knew the people of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale wanted more to be done.

Under new proposals currently being discussed by the upper echelons of Pennine Division, criminals in our neighbourhoods will be tackled in a completely different way.

The new move will see:

A Community Information System that will feed intelligence to officers.

Officers working closely with residents and community groups to identify problem areas.

Studies into the history of an area to help pre-empt crimes.

Community Beat Managers spending more time on the streets talking to people about what is happening in their area.

Police attempting to tackle anti-social behaviour by being aware of where and when it takes place.

And, wherever possible, reacting instantly to a problem, to try and resolve it.

Supt Hartley said: "We need to make more of a connection with people in our neighbourhoods.

"I'm tired of telling people we are going to get on top of crime and then not being able to deliver as much as we want to.

"Our new strategy will be to build up a complete profile of all of our neighbourhoods. In the past we have talked about Asian communities in one part of the division and another area being poor, but every neighbourhood has its own very distinct profile."

The new strategy will see police officers, police community beat managers and street wardens making a fresh connection with residents.

Supt Hartley continued: "We will be going in to areas, asking people what is wrong, what they think needs to be done, what they would like to see and generally engaging more with people."

And despite crime figures falling encouragingly this year, Supt Hartley is keen to err on the side of caution.

He said: "From now on we want things to be sorted straight away. Not when people ring up and complain about it.

"It is essential we develop this notion of neighbourhood profiles and not just label communities as just 'Asian' or 'poor'.

"Our communities are very much more complex than that and we need to improve our knowledge in that area."

Statistics show overall crime in Pennine Division is down by 11 percent compared with last year and the detection rate for crimes is the highest in Lancashire.

Burglary in the division is down 40 percent, vehicle crime down 18.4 percent, 380 fewer cars have been broken into.

Racially motivated crime is down by 54 percent and there were 120 fewer incidents reported. The detection rate is up to 56 percent.

And by working with agencies such as the borough councils, police hope to keep the figures falling.

Chief Superintendent Divisional Commander for Pennine Division John Knowles said: "The initiative builds on the work of Community Beat Managers.

"I fully support anything that builds on our knowledge of the communities we police."