POLICE have spelled out what they see as a major way forward in local crime detection in the future.

At the first meeting of the expanded Keighley and Ilkley Crime Prevention Panel, the crime manager for the division Detective Inspector Trevor Gasson outlined a policing strategy for the division.

And one of the methods of better investigation described by DI Gasson is intended to help victims of crime and other witnesses remember more about what they saw.

At the meeting in the Clarke/Foley Centre, Cunliffe Road, Ilkley, DI Gasson said that the expanded division wanted to increase the number of officers tranined in 'Cognitive' interviewing techniques.

Cognitive interviewing teaches detectives to question witnesses in a way that gains on average around 40 per cent more information which can be used in later court testimony.

D I Gasson explained that the method was particularly useful in robbery cases but can be used across the whole range of illegal activity where a witness or victim is giving evidence.

D I Gasson is the new chairman of the Keighley and Ilkley Crime Prevention Panel. He replaces Chief Superintendent Derek Bonnard who is due to leave the division soon.

DI Gasson said: "Keighley Division is unique in the diversity of the areas within the division. There is a vast expanse of rural area, coupled with differing sizes of housing estates both council and privately owned.

"There are numerous tourist attractions within the boundary which used to cover 87.9 square miles. This total has now been considerably increased due to the recent boundary changes."

He explained that the division now covered Shipley, Baildon, Windhill and parts of Frizinghall.

Due to this expansion members of the Panel have decided to split. Crime prevention officer Police Constable Adrian Foyston told the meeting that he believed that the panel was too big and should be split into two, one for the Aire Valley and one for the Wharfe Valley. Panel members agreed and will report back at the next

meeting on how to implement the split.

One result of the boundary changes, said PC Foyston said, is that the Keighley and Ilkley Panel has inherited a promotions caravan from the former Eccleshill panel which had gone out of existence.

The caravan had been donated by a local garage and it had been converted for anti-crime promotions and decorated with the police logo. Members of the panel are now searching for somewhere to store it.

The next meeting of the panel will be held at the Clarke Foley Centre, Ilkley, on Tuesday, September 25.