BOTH police and the council admit Blackburn town centre can be a dangerous and violent place to be. But they also stress that it is much safer than in the past due to a member of schemes to tackle violence.

Coun Maureen Bateson said: "There are many areas where we have looked to improve the town centre.

"For us to be successful at night, people needed to feel safe about coming here. We felt the best way of doing that was to go out and ask the people coming into the town centre what would make them feel safer.

"Things like a higher police presence and more CCTV cameras were high on the list."

The police now have a comprehensive network of spy cameras covering the entire town centre.

And through the Safer Streets initiative, extra police -- many in high-visibility jackets -- now patrol Blackburn at night on a regular basis.

But there are other areas which the council has worked on to make sure the town centre is safe at night.

Coun Bateson added: "We pioneered the doorman registration scheme, which meant all premises with public entertainment licences could only have door staff who had undergone a training scheme and who were registered with us as a result.

"These people know first aid, know how to control situations and behave correctly. It removed a massive rogue element for us."

A ban on drinking is another measure being implemented by police and councils across East Lancashire.

In consultation with publicans, other measures are being looked at, including the possible introduction of reinforced glasses which shatter into small pieces and not shards.

Ironically the more successful the police are in dealing with crime the bigger the increase is likely to be in the crime figures, a paradox exacerbated by the constabulary's new practice of positive crime recording.

Chief Inspector Neil Smith, the man in charge of Operation Enforce, aimed at tackling increases in crime said: "Over the last few years we have increased our efforts to reduce crime in areas such as violence, car crime and burglary and the success can be seen in the drop in the numbers of crimes in these areas. Operation Enforce is designed to tackle what is a slight increase in these crimes this year which we are not prepared to tolerate. However the levels of these crimes are nothing like they were five years ago."

He added: "The operation is really gaining momentum and what started out as a two-week blitz will now be extended for the foreseeable future.

"We have made a real difference to crime in the 'hot-spots' in Blackburn and our direct action has also had an impact on crime in other areas. The important thing now is to be able to sustain the reductions."

Camber of Trade President Ron O'Keeffe added: "Violence in the town centre does seem to be on the decrease because of the things police and bars are doing to combat it such as having good door staff and the late-night bus scheme."

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