THE new superintendent of Pennine police today pledged to tackle the issues behind the Burnley riots and said: "I will do my utmost to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Supt Steve Hartley spoke as he described his new position as 'like coming home' after 14 months in Blackburn as a Detective Chief Inspector.

He has returned to uniform to serve in the area where he was a geographical inspector for 12 months. Supt Hartley was also born in Rossendale and brought up in East Lancashire -- felt soparticularly strongly when Burnley was affected by racial disturbances last year.

He said: "Personally I felt very disappointed and I was quite sad. It was clearly a very big event but we have to get it in perspective. There are thousands of people living in the affected parts of Burnley the vast majority of which are good law abiding people. What happened was obviously very regrettable and we would not want it to happen again. I will do my utmost to work with people to make sure it doesn't."

Supt Hartley, 39, is married, has three young children and lives in the Ribble Valley.

He has been a supporter of Burnley Football Club for 30 years and said: "If we could channel the passion people have for the club has into reducing crime and disorder and get people to work with us we could go a long way."

He praised the depth of community spirit and feeling which he says makes the area unique and is something he wants to work on to make Burnley and Pennine Division a better and safer place for everyone to live together.

Supt Hartley said: "I was delighted when I got this appointment and I am glad to be back and quite excited about it. I have views about policing that I think are pretty pertinent. I think there are a lot of good people in this division and I think people in East Lancashire have a strong sense of community which I think makes a difference in terms of the fight against crime.

"My principle purpose will be to work with the communities out there to make sure our staff provide the quality of service to them and listen to them and do something about some of the problems that exist."

He said he was looking forward to working again with Burnley Residents Against Drugs (BRAD) an initiative he founded.

He said: "There are a lot of good people in this community, it is only a small number of people who are creating the problems.

"We need people to ring us and give us information so we can work together."

Supt Hartley has taken over from Supt Chris Weigh who has moved to Southern Division.