PEOPLE'S confidence in community policing is lower in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale than anywhere else in Lancashire, the force's new boss in the area has revealed.

Chief Superintendent Ian McPherson also admitted that the system, which involves officers on the street trying to work with local people to fight crime, had shortcomings.

He told councillors that promises had fallen down because of a shortage of officers and high workloads.

He said if there was criticism of community policing he would admit it.

Mr McPherson and senior officers addressed councillors at a behind-closed-doors meeting in the town hall following months of criticism over the apparent lack of police presence in several areas of Burnley.

Today the Pennine Division police chief told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph: "It is apparent to us there have been short-comings in terms of community policing in the Pendle Division."

He said he aimed to correct these through team policing where there was greater accountability.

He outlined to councillors changes which would mean Burnley and Padiham being policed with a better use of officers. He said the force had adopted Problem Oriented Policing as the fundamental basis of all its crime-fighting efforts.

"For too long we have been caught in the reactive spiral of responding to incidents. Now we can concentrate on identifying the causes rather than the symptoms," he added. Mr McPherson outlined the Division's policing objectives for the year ahead: to reduce crime by six per cent, nuisance and disorder by three per cent and road casualties by three per cent.

He announced new targets to reduce domestic burglaries by 34 per cent and car crime by 30 per cent over the next five years.

Answering criticisms about perceived failure of the centralised divisional communication room at Burnley, Mr McPherson acknowledged there had been early teething troubles but said issues such as increased staffing levels and improved local knowledge had already been addressed. On public confidence in the local force, he added: "We are very concerned about improving confidence and satisfaction levels and we carry out surveys on a regular basis."

Council leader Stuart Caddy welcomed the meeting and re-enforced the importance of working in partnership with the police to tackle issues that affect local people.

Independent Group spokesman Harry Brooks said he hoped Mr McPherson's proposals would work and he was happy to judge him by results.

"There is certainly much room for improvement," he added.

Concern over anti social behaviour and the perception that police were not properly addressing the issues surfaced in recent months in the Kibble Bank, Brunshaw areas and more recently at Rosehill.

Major protests erupted in Padiham last year, with residents marching through town and delivering a 2,000-name petition calling for more police action following a spate of damage and violent behaviour.

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