HOUSE burglaries in the Rossendale area are on the increase but police are winning the war with new tactics aimed at making burglars' lives a misery.

Divisional Superintendent Alfred Hitchcock told the Valley's police and community forum that between April and October burglaries were up by 20 per cent.

But better police intelligence and measures to disrupt burglars' activities had cut the rate since then.

Supt Hitchcock said: "We aim to make their lives more miserable than they make their victims' lives. By adopting these tactics burglaries are now down by 15 per cent and the detection rate is more than double the force average."

Supt Hitchcock added that violent crime in the Valley had fallen by 22 per cent in a year and the detection rate was the highest in the county at 85 per cent in the east of Rossendale and 87 per cent in the west, compared with a county average of 67 per cent. He told the forum that Rossendale was to be the county pilot for an intelligence analysis project which would computerise records and give officers better quality information.

The force was also going to pilot a national public safety radio communication project aimed at giving officers much improved radio communication links.

The meeting was told juvenile nuisance incidents were down by four per cent in the division and damage incidents down by 20 per cent.

The top 15 roads in the division for serious accidents are to be targeted by the police for road safety measures. Speed cameras are to be introduced on the main roads in Stacksteads and Shawforth.

Supt Hitchcock said: "These are roads with a high accident rate. We don't want to catch speeders with these cameras. We want drivers to slow down and not have accidents."

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