Police now have Tommy guns to warn criminals . .

by Robin Bird & Steve Mullen

POLICE in Birkenhead are cracking down hard on crime in 'The One Eyed City'. No one is quite sure how Birkenhead got its notorious nickname, whether it was to do with Woodside Ferry, or the one-eyed orbit of the Birkenhead Tunnel leading to Liverpool.

Former Birkenhead bobby Rod MacKay humorously captured the spirit of 'The One Eyed City' in his book of the same name.

"Wickedness hadn't attained respectability. Not like now," said MacKay in his portrayal of the 1950s police force. Today's police force is determined crime isn't going to attain respectability in 1997 with a crack down on all kinds of crime in the town centre.

Birkenhead's chief policeman Supt Paul Forrester is putting his reputation and job on the line that the crackdown on crime will work.

Following a round-up of prostitutes, it was the turn of criminals to be subject of a high profile purge by police. Police officers armed with machine guns manned the Mersey Tunnel toll booths as part of Operation Townsafe.

Elsewhere it was the friendly bobby approach but on a Radio Merseyside phone-in afterwards, there were complaints about armed police on the streets.

'SAFE TOWN'

BIRKENHEAD Police sent out a clear message to criminals after more than 70 people were arrested in a major crime offensive.

Operation Townsafe used a system of 'spotlights' to target areas where police and local residents are worried about crime.

Supt Paul Forrester of Birkenhead Police said: "We want to send out a clear message to criminals. If you come to Birkenhead for criminal purposes, you will be caught and you will be charged."

Over 100 extra officers were drafted in to 'spotlight' areas including mounted police in Birkenhead Park, under-age drinking near off licences and local pubs, and transport police on Merseyrail trains and buses.

The Townsafe initiative comes after the success of Operation Streetsafe, which led to several arrests of prostitutes and kerb crawlers in the North End of the town.

A special operation last Friday invloved armed police stopping and searching cars at the Birkenhead tunnel in an attempt to prevent criminals crossing the Mersey.

Supt Forrester added: "Look around Birkenhead now. There is development taking place all over. We know that Birkenhead is a safe place to live and work but we want to continue that and make Birkenhead the safest town in the North of England."

Supt Forrester added that Townsafe will not be a one-off measure. "I have secured enough funding for this big push against crime. We hope that this will break the back of it and we can continue with smaller offensives to keep crime out of Birkenhead," he said.

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