CYNICS may scoff that police and employment staff knocking on the doors of suspected criminals in East Lancashire to advise them on getting a job are on a hopeless mission among society's feckless, but this venture deserves a fair trial.

It is, after all, so novel that it is believed to be the first of its kind in the country and any positive means that it reveals of snapping the manifest link between unemployment and crime will rightly be seized upon.

Yet, even if this is a massive task, the two-pronged approach of this scheme has evident benefits at the outset. For as well as offering those targeted advice on getting work, it also sounds a warning to those suspected of being involved in criminal activity that they are being watched.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with the police breathing down the necks of known or suspected offenders.

Not only does this aspect of this new scheme stand to reduce crime through the pressure it puts on offenders to desist, it may also teach those coming under the spotlight that a life of crime is profitless -- and even that honest work is a safer and better alternative.

Then, in turn, the employment service arm of this initiative may also be effective, steering people away from crime and helping them find jobs and greater self-respect.

But even if this may be an elusive goal that may be achieved only in a few cases, the extra vigilance that the scheme subjects suspected criminals to will be welcomed by the public at large -- as evidence that the police are responding to their concerns. And it's taking place in areas of Blackburn that have suffered recent increases in burglary and vehicle crime will reassure residents that high-profile extra efforts are being made to reduce their levels.

Though rewards in terms of turning criminals into honest wage-earners and responsible citizens may yet be distant and intangible, it is surely worth the effort to seek them -- especially when it is coupled with positive policing that promises crime-cutting results in any case. It is an experiment that will be worth watching.