PEOPLE with disabilities are helping police to improve the service they provide to minority communities with the formation of a new forum.

Durham Police has set up the advisory group, made up of people with various disabilities, which could be copied by other forces across the country.

Acting Superintendent Geoff Watson said the group was believed to be the first of its kind in the country to be set up within a police force.

The knowledge and personal experiences that the disabled people within the group will have, will help the police to come up with ideas to try to improve their links with disabled people in the community.

At a meeting at police headquarters today, the advisory groups will split into three forums for talks with a neighbourhood police officer, a neighbourhood police community support officer, a member of the control room staff and a call handler.

They will discuss services that are in place, making suggestions for improvements to those services and discussing new ideas.

Supt Watson said: "Durham (Police) has always been a champion of community policing.

"We now have the Government wanting forces to develop neighbourhood policing, which includes issuing the names of the police officers who will police communities throughout County Durham and Darlington.

"That can easily be done through leaflets and advertisements for the vast majority, but what about those who are blind or partially-sighted?"

He said the group would hopefully help to ensure that everyone in the community can liaise with the police.

He added: "There is a whole raft of work to be done to ensure people with a wide range of disabilities are not left isolated and unable to communicate with us.

"We want to ensure that the service we give to our communities is available to all residents and not just the majority."

Supt Watson said there were lots of disabled people who were victims of crimes, but they did not contact the police because they felt they were not accessible to them.