POLICE across East Lancashire are to launch a head on assault on those who make a living from talking their way into pensioners' homes to steal money and valuables.

A conference to launch the initiative in the Pennine Police Division area -- covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale -- was held yesterday at Burnley FC's James Hargreaves Suite.

Around 100 delegates from agencies including social services, elderly support groups, charities and community groups were invited to the event.

Police believe these groups are the way forward in tackling distraction burglaries.

After the conference each group was given a Good Practice Guide -- a cardboard box containing a manual, which will be updated regularly with new advances in police techniques, information videos for themselves and to show old people, a door voice memo on which a relative's voice can be recorded reminding them to put the chain on before opening the door, a mirror to get a better view of the caller on the other side and magnifying door viewer.

Superintendent Steve Hartley of Pennine Police Division told them: "If we work together we can achieve an awful lot. The passion of this division is fantastic.

"East Lancashire people can have a very strong community spirit and sometimes that passion is damaged by these things. "

Superintendent Kelvyn Ashby joint manager on the Home Office's Distraction Burglary Task Unitsaid: "The average age of victims is 81. It's an appalling statistic that people in their 80s are being targeted for this sort of criminal activity.

"Three quarters are females and 90% live on their own."

He said quantities of cash as large as £100,000 have been stolen from victims either through suspects posing as workmen or using violence.

"The offenders are professional criminals and the scum of the earth as far as I'm concerned," he added. "They treat it as a professional job and start off in the morning and go as far as 100 miles travelling to different areas."

Mr Ashby claimed many victims were either too afraid or embarrassed to report they had been burgled and on occasions some would not know money had gone for several days.

He also admitted that until recently police had not reacted well to the incidents, which could be logged as a number of things ranging from deception to burglary to theft.

Tools for tackling the problem include:

Working more closely with other agencies to share information.

Neighbours and elderly support agencies keeping a closer eye on elderly people who live alone.

More police forensic involvement after an incident.

A national police data base -- currently being piloted in 11 forces across the Midlands -- so travelling offenders can be tracked, which would include pictures.