POLICE are launching three new initiatives in Silsden, Steeton and Eastburn in the battle against crime.

Officers are to attend regular monthly surgeries where members of the public can tell them about any problems they are having in their neighbourhood.

And PubWatch and ShopWatch schemes, which have been successful in other towns and villages, are to be introduced soon.

Schemes already operate in the North Yorkshire part of Craven.

Insp Bob Robinson, the man in charge of the policing of Steeton, Eastburn and Silsden, revealed the first of the regular surgeries would be held later this month.

"The idea is that community officers are there to speak one-to-one with anybody who has issues that they wish to bring to the attention of the police," he said.

ShopWatch involves shopkeepers being kept in touch with each other and patrolling police officers via personal radios.

If alleged shoplifters are spotted or anyone is seen acting suspiciously in a store, then proprietors can let each other know and also alert the police.

And PubWatch is a similar scheme where licensees ring each other if they encounter any problems on their premises.

They also meet regularly to decide if certain troublemakers should be barred from their establishments.

This can often result in repeated offenders being excluded from all the pubs in the same town.

Licensees in the area will meet for the first time with police next week.

"We've run this kind of scheme in Bingley with much success and there is also a scheme like it recently set up in Haworth," said Insp Robinson.

"This will deal with drink related problems such as assaults and anti-social behaviour and drug criminality.

"The idea of all of these new initiatives is to prevent crime rather than waiting until it's taken place and we have to go and detect it.

"Crime affects people's quality of life and when this happens then they are often reluctant to act as good citizens themselves for fear of reprisals."

Details of when and where the surgeries are to be held will be published soon.

Meanwhile, Keighley police's special task force is now based at Silsden police station.

The task force, made up of a sergeant and several constables, can be deployed in any part of the district to deal with anti-social behaviour.

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