POLICE officers from Ulster who experienced the dark days of sectarian violence paired up with Blackburn bobbies to gain knowledge on community policing.
The four officers from the Dungannon and South Tyrone division of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary, went out into the community with Blackburn's community beat managers.
The Ulster constables said the three day visit to Lancashire will help them further the transition from a troubled Northern Ireland to one with a brighter future and improved relations between the police and the public.
Blackburn's beat managers have won awards in the past two years for their work in improving relations between the police and the public and were seen as a good force from which the Irish police can glean knowledge.
Constable Mark Quigley, 31, who has been in the Northern Ireland force for 10 years. said: "We came here to walk the streets and see this working in practice, you can't learn like this from reading from a form."
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