POLICE are cracking down on anti-social behaviour in Darlington town centre to encourage a return to the days of traditional values and community spirit.

Inspector Sue Collingwood, one of Darlington's two community inspectors, is working with beat and community support officers to increase patrols in the town centre.

Operation Gothic Vaulting has been running in the town since November 8 and aims to target anti-social behaviour.

So far the scheme has been a success, with fixed penalty fines issued to 13 youngsters caught riding bikes on pavements, over and above what would normally be reported.

The operation sees an average of four more officers patrolling the town centre than usual each day.

Insp Collingwood said that the businesses in the town were seeing a reduction in anti-social behaviour, and that the patrols were reassuring to shoppers.

"At the moment it is high profile. The officers are out there trying to improve how people feel," she said.

"If people don't feel safe or comfortable, because of groups of kids riding bikes on pavements and generally being rowdy in the town centre, they will go somewhere else and that will have a knock on effect on business."

The operation is also giving police the opportunity to crack down on other offences, including illegal parking, and has even resulted in three burglaries being detected.

"People often say we don't bother about the little things any more, but we are dealing with parking offences and other things while we are patrolling as the figures show, it is mushrooming out from this," said Insp Collingwood.

"Hopefully this will help bring back those old values and community spirit that people talk about."

The number of complaints about youth annoyance in Darlington has more than halved in the past month, according to Andy Errington, Darlington Borough Council's head of youth offending.

He said 140 complaints a fortnight were received between October 10 to November 11, but only 60 a fortnight from November 11 to December 12.

Councillors, wardens and police will meet to discuss the issue in the town hall tomorrow.