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A campaign putting more bobbies on the beat in Padiham has helped to increase public confidence in the police, new stats show.

Operation Centurion, run by Lancashire Constabulary, provides increased police foot patrols in antisocial behaviour hotspots like Padiham thanks to an extra £2m. in funding over the next two years. The town benefitted from more than 2,000 extra policing hours from July to the end of January, namely in Padiham Tesco, Memorial Park, and the Greenway.

Trust in the police subsequently increased by 14% within Padiham (and Accrington, the second pilot area) over the summer, according to data from In the Know, a free messaging service by Lancashire Constabulary.

Burnley and Padiham MP Antony Higginbotham said: "We had a massive ASB problem in Padiham in 2022, going into 2023. ASB is always in the top five issues that people bring up."

Two police officers on foot patrol. Picture by Michael Gillen.

Regarding the importance of foot patrols, he added: "One, officers are visible, and two, you get better intelligence."

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The campaign allowed officers to attend more than 100 incidents and conduct more than 1,000 stakeholder visits, 400 stop checks, and 30 stop searches, in addition to routine work carried out by the Response (blue light) service and Burnley and Padiham Neighbourhood Policing Team.

The MP has identified Burnley town centre as a potential target area for Operation Centurion following several bar break-ins at William's Lounge Bar, Electric Circus and Bar Mojitos in the past few months.

Brooklyn and Adam Wolski-Brown, co-owners of Bar Mojitos in Burnley. Photo: Kelvin Lister-Stuttard

An additional police community support officer also began working in the town centre earlier this month following nearly 1,839 reports of crimes in the area in the 12 months from December 2022 to November 2023, according to police data.

"It needs more police officers. I know from talking to police that ASB in Padiham has come down quite dramatically, and in Burnley town centre, it has gone up dramatically.

"[Lancashire's Police and Crime Commissioner] Andrew Snowden is aware of it. I'm aware of it. Police are aware of it. We are looking at where to target next, and the more people tell me where they want it, the better."

"I always think, with policing, go back to basics and have more visible officers."

Antisocial behaviour: Public trust in the police increases in Padiham after Lancashire Constabulary's Operation Centurion put more officers on the street