A BLACKPOOL bobby's plan to tackle hotel burglaries in the resort has earned him a trip to California.

Sergeant Paul Boyes (pictured) was runner-up in the second annual Home Office Tilley Award for Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) with his project Operation Adelphi.

More than 50 competition entries were submitted to the Home Office's policing and reducing crime unit by forces from across the country. Five officers from Lancashire made it on to the short list of 20 that went on to be considered by the judging panel.

Sgt Boyes thought up Operation Adelphi after crime figures highlighted Blackpool as a problem area due to hotels operating an open door policy. The operation is especially geared up to fighting crime in the larger seafront hotels where most offences are committed. It includes a photograph-sharing scheme, where hoteliers are issued with pictures of known hotel burglars.

Hotel burglary has been reduced by 52 per cent over the summer months since the initiative began.

Sgt Boyes went to Leicester earlier this month (September) to pick up his award and prize money of £750.

Said Paul, who will now be attending the International POP Conference in San Diego, California, in November: "I am absolutely delighted to have won this prize and am very much looking forward to travelling to San Diego.

"Problem-oriented policing has become the cornerstone of everything we do here in Lancashire, but these conferences will allow us further opportunities to learn even more about the successes that others are having in this very important area of work."