CRIME in Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors is down 4.2 per cent compared with last year.

At the latest Great Harwood Area Council meeting Inspector Steve Lee revealed that overall crime had dropped since April last year and violent crime had fallen by 9.1 per cent.

Other figures revealed that assaults in the area had been reduced by 29.4 per cent, criminal damage by 26 per cent and burglaries in commercial properties by 36.8 per cent.

Insp Lee said the officers based at Great Harwood were concentrating on reducing burglaries in homes by targeting known offenders and handlers.

He also revealed that police were looking at making one persistent burglar, a 15-year-old boy who arrested 51 times in four years, the subject of an anti-social behaviour order.

He said: "This boy has 15 previous convictions spanning 26 offences including five previous convictions for burglary.

"Crime figures in Great Harwood show a reduction when he is in care elsewhere."

The boy has now been bailed to an address in Blackburn.

Another clampdown will be on drug dealers as part of the Safer Streets in Lancashire initiative and the 24 officers at Great Harwood police station will be involved in the execution of search warrants in the coming weeks.