BURGLARS are taking a pounding since the introduction of a new team to clamp down on crime.

A 'hit squad' to concentrate on burglaries was introduced to Accrington in February and the results show that burglaries are now down by 20 per cent.

Since the team's introduction 205 people have been arrested for house burglaries and 178 charges brought against them. In addition 62 further offences were asked to be taken into consideration.

The average number of burglaries per month has now been reduced to 42.

Detective Sergeant Paul Broxson, of Accrington CID, said: "The burglary team was set up because last year, up until April, the average number of burglaries a month was 54 which is far too much.

"This increase was not worse than any other towns of similar size in the division but we felt it was unacceptable so set up the team."

The burglary team is led by DS Broxson and includes a sergeant and four PCs

As a group they are dedicated to hunting down burglars responsible for break-ins in the town and arresting them, uses a number of tactics to try to reduce burglaries in the town, including visiting known offenders to let them know they are being watched, targeting burglary 'hot-spot' areas with extra patrols and plain clothes investigations.

Officers are also liaising with forensic teams and second-hand dealers, with the aim of reducing and detecting burglaries and offenders.

DS Broxson said: "The number of burglaries which have been investigated and resulted in arrests has risen by 300 per cent and the number of incidents has now dropped by 20 per cent.

"We are hoping the team will continue for as long as we can do and are achieving results."