POLICE have launched their toughest ever campaign to catch Christmas criminals as Blackburn town centre prepares for another festive shopping frenzy. Operation Christmas Cracker will see uniformed and undercover officers patrolling the shopping centre while mounted and motorcycle police will be monitoring car parks.

More than 400,000 people are expected to flow through the town centre during the Christmas rush which will be covered by the operation which will run from November 28 to January 3.

Sergeant Alan Holt is hoping that this year's crime crackdown will be more successful than last year's Operation Mistletoe.

During the three-week programme, police arrested 116 people in the town centre, 79 of them for stealing from shops and solved 76 shoplifting-related crimes. Stolen property worth £6, 897 was recovered.

Srgt Holt said: "With CCTV and the Storelink radio scheme in full operation we are hoping that this year's scheme is even more successful than those we have run in the past."

Operation Christmas Cracker will be run jointly by Blackburn Police's Crime Prevention team, town centre management, the Blackburn Chamber of Trade and the Association for the Prevention of Theft in Shops.

Lancashire Police have issued warnings to shoppers and shopkeepers to avoid Christmas heartache this year.

Shoppers are warned not to:

Flash the cash - keep money private

Leave purses or wallets in shopping bags

Pile goods up in cars and then leave them unattended

Leave presents on open view under Christmas trees

Ignore suspicious packages.

To cut down the risk of shoplifting, store owners are advised to:

Not pile excessive stock on the sales floor

Make sure all alarm systems are working

Make sure all CCTV systems are working and change video tapes regularly

Ensure sufficient staff are on the premises at all times

Be vigilant - report all suspicious or unusual behaviour

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