A CRIME crusade which has seen known offenders barred from Blackburn town centre has resulted in a dramatic plunge in offences.

Police and shopkeepers say since the start of the new strategy some types of crime have been almost halved in the main shopping centre.

Shoplifters and thieves who target car parks around the town centre were hit hard during the purge.

Following the early successes of the crackdown other towns in Lancashire are considering launching similar strategies.

The pioneering scheme was launched at the start of the peak Christmas period and was aimed at hardened criminals.

A list of 15 known troublemakers and criminals - 10 from Blackburn and five from Darwen - were handed official notices banning them from the town centre and their names were circulated to businesses and shops.

Anyone breaking the ban will be taken to court and made the subject of an Anti Social Behaviour Order. Those breaching the order can be taken to court and given a hefty fine or a prison sentence.

A special audit of crime in the Blackburn and Darwen area carried out last year revealed the town centre accounts for a fifth of all crime in the borough and costs businesses around £4million.

But figures for April to December 1998 and the same period in 1999 revealed a reduction in town centre crime of almost 20 per cent from 1,700 offences to 1,370.

The biggest reduction was in the number of vehicle related crimes which halved alongside the number of robberies which reduced by more than 55 per cent. The figures show a slight increase in the number of shoplifting offences but Blackburn Police attribute that rise to new anti-shoplifting initiatives which catch more shoplifters in the act.

Blackburn town centre manager Paul Isherwood said: "We are delighted with the way the new strategy worked over the Christmas period.

"The list of people banned was drawn up by traders and the police and changes when people move away, are sent to prison or are added to the list.

"We have had a few people who have tried to come into the town centre but have backed off after they were told in no uncertain terms the consequences of their actions."

Mr Isherwood said: "What has been really encouraging is that more shops in Blackburn have joined the scheme.

"Other towns are also planning to set up similar schemes and have come to us for advice and information.

"Hopefully if we co-operate then we can go some way to solving the problem of town centre crime not only in Blackburn but in the region as a whole."

Acting Inspector Judith Finney, who is in charge of policing the town centre, said: "We are still looking at the figures and trying to establish a pattern for the last three months.

"However, we were really pleased with the figures for December and the scheme seems to have been a great success."

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