CRIME suspects will be put "in the frame" by a ground -breaking identity system to be used by Bury Police.

Under new powers and as part of a major national crackdown on robberies, the town's police are to make use of video footage of a suspect mingling with the general public, providing a witness with a bank of up to eight images to identify the perpetrator of a crime.

The Video Identification System (VIS) will provide a fast and effective alternative to live identity parades and will also benefit witnesses and victims, who will no longer have to re-live their ordeal by coming face-to-face with their attacker.

They will be able to try and pick out their attacker within hours of an arrest, which increases the chances of an accurate identification and a successful conviction.

The VIS is expected to be installed at Bury police station in the next few weeks. It will cut the time it takes to organise identity parades from the current average of 10 weeks in some force areas to within one week.

A total of £7.6 million is being made available by the government to ten police forces in the country with robbery hotspots. Around half a dozen police divisions in Greater Manchester will benefit from the cash injection including Bury.

A new PACE Code to allow routine use of video identification parades came into force on April 1 and the system will be placed in all ten forces by mid April.

Announcing the new investment in video technology, Home Office Minister Keith Bradley said: "Robbery is a traumatic and often swift event. There is rarely any forensic evidence and police have to rely on witness identification of the suspect.

"For many years traditional live identity parades have been open to abuse, with suspects repeatedly failing to show up and holding up the criminal justice process.

"The Video Identification System will enable officers to cut through the red tape involved in setting up parades. Instead of taking weeks to organise, officers can now arrange video identification parades while the suspect is still in custody and the incident is fresh in the victim's memory."

He added: "Making better use of technology in this way will free up officer time to tackle crime and standardise police practices. It will result in more positive identifications, more cases going to court and more convictions."

While the VIS will be used for robberies, identification parades of offenders who are deemed dangerous to the public will be carried out in the traditional way.