BURGLARS and people who act as "fences" for stolen property were today introduced to a weapon in the fight against crime -- a dedicated property police officer.

Property disposal officer PC Paul Roden will take a tough line on the handling and sale of stolen goods in the Pennine division covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

And the "no messing" police officer today warned offenders there was a real risk of getting their fingers burnt if they're caught with hot property.

PC Roden, who is based in Colne Police Station, aims to begin the crackdown by identifying and targeting known offenders and working closely with local second hand shops, market stalls, pubs and other venues.

He wants to reduce the number of outlets available to criminals to sell stolen goods and aims to make sure shop owners are clear about their responsibilities.

PC Roden said: "We're issuing advice to people in order to prevent crime, we're targeting offenders in a bid to curb their behaviour and now we're cutting off the cash flow for criminals because they're going to struggle to sell their stolen goods.

"Trying to identify and seize stolen goods is something we've always done but now we have someone dedicated to the role, our success rate should further increase."

He added: "That's bad news for offenders but good news for law-abiding citizens. They're less likely to end up with stolen goods and, if they've been a victim of crime and have had goods stolen, there's an increased chance that we'll recover those goods."

Part of his first crime prevention initiative is to urge people to make sure all property is postcoded with a UV pen or something similar and to make sure they make a note of any model or serial numbers, particularly on electrical equipment.