IT’S good to see that lateral thinking is being employed to try to soften some of the impact of the big budget cuts that have been imposed on Lancashire police.

The county’s police and crime commissioner, Clive Grunshaw, is backing the ‘Citizens in Policing’ programme to involve local people in supporting their uniformed crime-fighters.

At the same time, they are trying to recruit 500 new special constables and cadets and expand Neighbourhood Watch schemes.

All these measures should help to free up full-time uniformed officers and detectives to focus more on solving the most serious crimes and putting dangerous offenders behind bars.

But the use of ordinary citizens as volunteers to use speed guns on their streets and even man the front counters of police stations at risk will need to be closely monitored.

Professional police officers are trained to follow strict procedures and have powers of arrest granted to them by law. Their actions are quite rightly closely regulated.

Well-meaning helpers will provide useful support but it must be remembered that there is a distinction between volunteers and vigilantes which must not be confused.