BOBBIES in the borough are to make a welcome return to the beat in a bid to fight crime from within the community.

As reported exclusively in the Bury Times in April this year police in the Bury division were considering a re-organisation of the existing Township system across the borough in favour of new Community Beat Officers (CBOs).

Now those far-reaching plans are coming to fruition with the revival of the traditional bobby on the beat approach to policing being launched on Monday (Oct 28).

Previously the Townships were divided into Prestwich, Whitefield, Bury East, Bury West, Radcliffe and Ramsbottom with each having an Inspector and a team of Township officers.

While the system was considered to be working well and was even replicated in the neighbouring towns of Rochdale and Oldham, it was believed that there was a need for the police to be seen working much closer with the community.

People needed to see their local bobbies patrolling the streets and the officers needed to be more accessible.

The borough will still be divided up according to the old Township boundaries but the new system will enable the CBOs to work on specific projects in a particular area and they will take on more of a problem-solving role rather than simply a response role.

The borough will benefit from three extra CBOs overall and they will be working more flexible hours to deal with community-based problems and what can be described as "non-urgent" incidents.

Insp David Jones, head of Prestwich and Whitefield Township, said: "Urgent incidents will be unaffected by the changes as there will still be response vehicles but the new system will mean the officers can manage their own projects. For example, if the CBO for Pilsworth identifies that there is a problem up there, he will call in specialist departments to help solve it. He will benefit from the help of CID officers, for example, but the CBO will be the one co-ordinating the project. If it is not a police matter he will report back to the inspector and other agencies can be brought in, such as youth workers or the area board. The CBOs love it as they will be able to see a problem through to the end and be responsible for it."