BURGLARIES in an East Lancashire town have been cut by a third since an undercover 'hit squad' was introduced to clamp down on crime.

Operation Enforce was launched in Accrington in February following a similar scheme in Blackburn which was prompted by a rising number of break-ins.

The Accrington team, which is 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.

In the first month since the scheme was introduced in February, 39 offences were detected.

Now, Sgt Joe Worden, who is the Accrington co-ordinating sergeant, said: "There has been a marked reduction of between 30 and 40 per cent since we began the scheme in February and we are very happy with these figures.

"We have also recovered a large number of items including electrical products which have been returned to the owners and we are now looking at continuing the project because of the good results.

"This is a problem that was getting worse, but we are now seeing the fruits of our labour and will continue as long as we are having successes. It is very important for us to keep the number of burglaries down as that is one of the divisional objectives and also because burglaries are very traumatic for the victims."

Sgt Worden said information from residents was needed to continue Operation Enforce's success.

He said: "We rely on members of the public to ring Crimestoppers with any information they may have then we can act on it.

"And if we can target resources towards the hard core responsible for the burglaries we will see a large difference, even though only a small number of people are arrested."