BURNLEY'S top police officer has warned that many of the conditions which caused rioting in the town in 2001still exist.

Chief Superintendent John Knowles told a Police Authority meeting that further serious disorder was still a possibility.

Today the man who led the Task Force aimed at finding solutions to the unrest, which was inflamed by racial tension, said that the toughest job was changing people's attitudes.

And former mayor Rafique Malik agreed that, despite a number of initiatives aimed at solving the problems, there was no room for complacency in the town.

Chief Supt Knowles said: "We had terrible times during 2001 and no one wants to revisit those times, but I have to say the potential for disorder has not gone.

"There still exists a potential. We have had a number of incidents which, if left unchecked, could cause further disorder."

Those incidents included the World Cup finals in June and the council elections in May, when three BNP councillors were elected.

He added: "The World Cup and the amount of alcohol drunk was a problem for us and in the May elections, when the media of the world descended on Burnley.

"I have no doubt that sections of the media were looking for disorder and it was a testing time for us."

The announcement came, despite the Burnley Task Force being set up to investigate the cause of the riots, and a report being published with key recommendations which have been carried out to help avoid a repeat.

Chief Supt Knowles added that new dangers, both at home and abroad, were being monitored by police in Burnley to guard against any further outbreaks of rioting. We have council elections again in May, the situation in Iraq, potential terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and the public reaction to those attacks, and all the time we have racist incidents with both white and Asian victims.

"It is our job to spot the potential problems, nip them in the bud and prevent them."

Lord Clarke, the man chosen to chair the Burnley Task Force, said: "With the things that are going on in the world at the moment there needs to be vigilance and tolerance.

"As I said recently there is no overnight solution to what happened in Burnley. We can carry out various initiatives that will help the situation, but the tougher job is to change the attitudes that people have.

"We have to be vigilant in watching out for problems and understanding those problems."

The meeting, organised by the body that oversees the running of Lancashire's police forces, was also told of the constabulary's annual performance figures in Burnley.

The figures, for last year, show that overall crime in Burnley has fallen by two and a half per cent and domestic burglaries are down 33 per cent.

But criminal damage rose by 22 per cent and vehicle crime has also seen a one per cent increase.

Chief Supt Knowles continued: "A continuing concern is criminal damage. That has risen 22 per cent and the bulk of that was damage to vehicles. This includes wanton damage and breaking windows.

"It is very difficult to predict and manage but it is a concern for us."

Coun Malik said: "We need to be on our toes, doing everything we can to ensure that disturbances like we saw in 2001 are not repeated. It only takes a couple of people to spark something off and we need to make sure that criminals are dealt with strictly and effectively."