A NEW breed of police officer is pounding the beat to make East Lancashire streets safer.

Fourteen police community support officers started work yesterday, making the area the first place in the country outside of London to have them.

They are working with limited powers alongside police officers with the objective of tackling anti-social behaviour.

Burnley has five, Blackburn three, Colne two and Clitheroe, Accrington, Brierfield and Rossendale have one each. More will be appointed in the near future.

Chief Constable Paul Stephenson stressed that the PCSOs, appointed with almost £1 million of government cash specifically for this project, were not replacing police officers.

He added: "They will add to our community beat manager programme. Demand for visible uniformed patrol has never been greater.

"Ultimately, the employment of Police Community Support Officers will provide us with additional capacity to meet this demand and deliver a service that our communities rightly expect and deserve."

Mr Steph- enson said he was not being offered any more money for police officers but he was keen to take money for projects like PCSOs when it was on offer.

PCSOs will have the following powers:

Issuing fixed penalty notices for incidents such as dog fouling and litter

Confiscating alcohol and tobacco as well as the seizure of vehicles

Removing abandoned vehicles and the power of entry to save life or prevent damage

Detention of up to 30 minutes until a police officer arrives

In Burnley, for a trial period, PCSOs will also be able to stop vehicles, maintain cordons, search vehicles and use reasonable force to detain in certain circumstances.

PCSOs are already operated by the Metropolitan Police and also underwent a successful trial in Lancaster last year. Around 200 people applied for one of the 72 Lancashire posts, which carries a salary of between £12,000 and £14,000 a year.

The first batch have just undergone four weeks of classroom training ready for their role.

Emma Turner, 23, was working as a shop assistant at the former Booze Busters in Ewood before seeing the stories about PCSOs in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

Now she has been placed on the beat around Revidge, Lammack, Corporation Park and Wensley Fold with the specific aim of cutting juvenile nuisance.

Emma, who is from Ewood, said: "I am really looking forward to it. I want to make a difference.

"People need reassurance and someone there who can tackle it and that's what we will be able to do."

Eventually, Blackburn will have four PCSOs, Accrington and the Ribble Valley will have three and Darwen and Great Harwood will have one each.

More than half the forces in England and Wales received funding for PCSOs from the £19m pot. Lancashire is expected to have the third highest number of PCSOs, behind the Metropolitan police with 500 and Greater Manchester with 160.