HARD on the heels of a strikingly successful crackdown on car crime, police in East Lancashire today launched a massive drive against persistent burglars, warning them that they will go to jail.

Again, just as auto-crime is a bane whose levels call for zero-tolerance hounding of offenders, so too is burglary. And all the more so since it is not just a curse of which too many people have had experience, but also so often a violation of victims' lives that many, especially the elderly living alone, take years to recover from the shock and fear -- and some never do at all.

It is quite right, then, for the police to go all out against the serial offenders responsible for most burglaries by targeting them on a daily basis. And, as they have already done in their purge against car crime, they are backing up the drive against house-breakers with a name-and-shame policy -- as today they put the heat on two of East Lancashire's most-wanted burglary suspects by publicly identifying them.

But what is encouraging about this new police initiative is that it is stepping up the pressure on offenders at a time when their efforts are already markedly reducing burglary -- as we learn that the level of housebreaking in the force's Blackburn-based division where this new drive is being launched has been cut by half in the past five years, reducing the number in the whole of Blackburn and Darwen to as few as three or four a day.

Yet, as that still amounts to hundreds of victims annually, it is evident that zero tolerance should mean just that -- and that the zeal of the police should be backed by the judiciary and the public.

The law now says burglars convicted of as third offence can be jailed for up to three years. The courts must guarantee that they will. Nor should bail be an option for repeat offenders. And every household should be armed with all the security it can afford.

Then, these welcome firm efforts by the police will pay even greater dividends.