COMMUNITIES are being urged to tell police of the crimes they are most fearful of as Lancashire Constabulary takes part in a national pilot project

The force is one of eight involved in the National Reassurance Policing Programme, a Home Office initiative developed to reduce the gap between falling levels of crime and increasing public concern.

Assistant Chief Constable, Julia Hodson, said: "For some time the police service has been aware that while crime levels are falling the public is becoming more and more insecure. Reassurance is a policing style that aims to reduce this gap. It does by not only reducing crime to make places safer but by making communities feel safer too through pro-actively tackling issues to create feelings of security with the full involvement of local people.

"The National Reassurance Policing Programme tests the theory that tackling certain crimes and disorders has a better or greater positive impact on public perceptions of safety. It involves the public in identifying the local 'signal crimes' and encourages them to make choices about the policing tactics we employ to tackle the problems in order to create feelings of safety."

"While it is a new and experimental concept, we are committed to trying everything we can to police our communities in a way that controls crime whilst making our communities feel safer."