A VIDEO about security which was the brainwave of a Rossendale bobby has made the lives of millions of students safer and earned him and his wife a Concorde trip to New York.

PC Steve Hobson is a community safety officer in south Manchester where there is a high population of students at universities.

He said: "I give talks to students on safety issues because sometimes they come to the big city and can be quite naive about personal security and safety.

"In a bid to combat crime I made a video aimed at students to heighten their awareness and promote crime prevention.

"One of the objectives nationally is to reduce the number of dwelling burglaries and through the video and other initiatives it has dropped by 25 per cent."

Steve's video, which was produced by Touchline Presentations of Blackburn, has been endorsed by the Home Office and distributed to crime prevention officers, universities, colleges and landlords all over the country. A copy has even gone to the Falkland Islands and nearly 1,300 Student Alert videos have been sold country-wide.

Greater Manchester's Forceful Suggestion Scheme rewarded his initiative and entered it, along with 250,000 other ideas, in the UK Association of Suggestion Schemes.

It was picked as the best public service suggestion and then the best in the country earning Steve, 40, and wife Marilyn, from Rawtenstall, a trip to New York.

Steve joked: "Marilyn's mother has already given her a guide to shopping in New York so it looks like that's what we'll be doing!"

Asked if he thought the video would be a success Steve said: "I expected it to take off because the whole aim was for students see the film before they go to college to prepare them to live on their own away from families.

But, before they jet off to the States next year, they first have to find a minder for their triplets, seven-year-olds Charlotte, Sophie and Luke!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.