A POLICEMAN with a passion for classic cars has been appointed to steer beat bobbies in the right direction.

Chief Inspector Ralph Copley, 42, has been promoted from Lancaster police to become the officer in charge of community safety for Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

Wakefield-born Mr Copley also carries the title of the 'community engagement champion'.

This means he has to ensure beat bobbies become part of daily life on their patches so they find out about the problems which matter most to residents.

It is early days for the community beat managers, who have returned to our streets over the past 18 months.

Mr Copley, who lived in Burnley as a child, has been given the new role because the next two years are seen as crucial by police in setting the standards for the future of the beat manager scheme.

In his community safety role, he will be responsible for overseeing the police's ethnic minority teams, call centre and the link-up with councils' community safety partnerships.

Mr Copley, who drives a 1961 Austin Healey Sprite, said: "It is my first time working over here. Having spent part of my life living in East Lancashire, I know that people here are very, very friendly and accommodating.

"We want to improve the opportunities for people to access local officers to ensure people know how to contact them. We hope this will help communities so they can effectively identify to us what the issues are.

"The overall aim is about helping people feel safer in their homes and on the streets of the division."

Mr Copley, whose wife of 14 years is also a police officer, lives out of the division on a property with two thirds of an acre of land.

Mr Copley replaces Chief Inspector Andy Pratt who is now in charge of geographic policing for the division.