DESPITE the Lancashire force's striking gains in the fight against crime -- last year, achieving the best results in the country for reducing offences -- it has often still to struggle against public perception that policing is under-strength.

How apt and encouraging it is, then, to see our police force performing in top gear this Christmas -- and so visibly and effectively, not just by continuing to cut crime, but at the same time also fighting the fear of crime and dispelling doubts about policing levels and efficiency.

For we learn today that their appropriately-named Operation Reassure crackdown has led to almost 1,000 people being arrested in the ten days since its since its launch -- for a whole raft of offences, ranging from theft and assault to burglary and car crime.

On top of this, a substantial amount of stolen property and drugs have been seized. And, in response to one of the public's main concerns, extra officers have been drafted in for weekend patrols to ensure a high police profile on the streets.

Combined with such tangible results, this firm and conspicuous approach is bound to have considerable effect on public confidence in the police and policing methods. And how heartening it is to observe police in the force's Pennine Division, covering Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, turning up the heat in singular way to switch fear crime away from its victims and on to offenders instead.

They are delivering Christmas cards -- by hand -- to known criminals in the division. The message that comes with them is that the police know who they are, where they are -- and that they are watching them. And it works -- as the police know from the results when they pioneered the targeting scheme last Christmas.

For too long the public has been cowed by crime -- and confidence in policing has suffered for it. But with this sort of determined drive by our Lancashire force and the results it is achieving, the common, though perhaps exaggerated, perception that our streets and homes are not safe any more should begin to fade markedly.