SHOPLIFTERS face being banned from a town centre as part of a high-tech crackdown on crooks.

Store bosses, council officials and police in Blackburn have joined forces with shopping centre management in a bid to cut crime with the help of closed-circuit TV and a radio link.

Police have revealed that people arrested for shoplifting face being banned from the town centre until their cases have been dealt with at court.

The newly-launched radio link allows shop security staff to alert each other and the police about suspicious activity in and around their stores.

Together with the cameras in and around the town centre shopping precinct, it allows suspected thieves and potential trouble-makers to be watched and has already been responsible for several arrests. The latest, at 3pm on Wednesday, resulted in two men being arrested for suspected shoplifting at the BHS store. Both men have been charged and bailed to appear before Blackburn magistrates on August 23.

The schemes have been set up with the help of cash from the Safer Cities and City Challenge organisations, which are working to improve the town and cut crime.

Sergeant Alan Holt of Blackburn police said people charged with shoplifting and then released would be told to keep out of the town centre as part of their bail conditions.

And an application for magistrates to apply the same condition would be made if courts agreed to release people on bail after they had been detained in police cells.

Sgt Holt said: "The system is working. People are aware of CCTV and the radio link and it is leading to a number of arrests.

"The warning to people who want to commit crime is: Don't come into Blackburn."

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