A SCHEME putting bobbies on the beat in one the region's biggest shopping centre celebrated its first anniversary at the weekend.

It is a year since Gateshead West area command officers took up their beat in the shopping malls of MetroCentre.

The scheme has been a major success. In the past 12 months. Retail crime has fallen by 55 per cent and car crime has fallen by 14 per cent.

This builds on the 45 per cent reduction in car crime from the previous year. The detection rate for car crime has also doubled.

Sergeant Alan Parks, who heads the police unit based at MetroCentre, said: "Working in partnership has already brought reductions in crime and next year we are looking to continue this success and increase the number of partners."

"In the first year, the community beat managers have worked hard to establish themselves and have shown initiative and imagination in their own particular aspects of problem solving and the needs of their community partners.

"All of this helps maintain MetroCentre as one of the safest shopping centres in the country."

Each mall in the centre has its own community beat manager, who meets staff from the shops every month to discuss crime-related issues.