THE North-East and North Yorkshire will get more than 100 extra civilian police officers to help stamp out crime and fear in communities.

Each of the forces in the region is to benefit, with 21 additional community support officers for Durham Police, 21 for Cleveland Police, 18 for North Yorkshire Police and 52 for Northumberland.

The Government will fund the 112 officers until the end of March 2006, with at least 75 per cent funding in 2006/7.

The civilian officers have the power to hand out on-the-spot fines for dog fouling, littering, fly-posting, graffiti, truancy and riding on footpaths. They can confiscate alcohol in areas where drinking is banned and seize both alcohol and cigarettes from underage youngsters.

And, in future, they will be allowed to use reasonable force to detain a suspect for up to 30 minutes while they await a uniformed officer.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said: "Our police reform white paper, published earlier this month, places highly visible, accessible and accountable neighbourhood policing at the heart of our programme to modernise police and improve standards of service to the public."