A FORMER police inspector is hoping to come up with a blueprint to help police and councils defeat burglars.

Retired Cleveland Police officer Brian Neale, his project team and police officers are visiting the victims of repeat burglaries in an attempt to build models showing police and councils where and how resources should be directed.

The brainchild of the crime-fighting partnership Safe in Tees Valley, the project involves detailed research to identify characteristics of vulnerable households. It is funded by the Government Office for the North-East.

The team is workingits way through a list of 319 victims to whom they wish to speak. Its full report is not out until March, but common characteristics have already emerged. The worst hit areas are Middlesbrough and Stockton, followed closely by Hartlepool, with east Cleveland and Darlington bringing up the rear.

Burglars are targeting town centre terraced houses and housing estates, rather than the leafy suburbs.

"One characteristic of burglaries is they are tending to be concentrated in areas that have a higher deprivation than others," said project manager Mr Neale.

"If you tend to live in an end terraced house and are out for a significant part of the day, at work or study, you are more likely to become a victim."

A person living alone or a single parent can be particularly vulnerable.

"To be burgled once is bad enough, but when it happens two or even three times then it can have a terrible effect on people's lives," he said.

"Whilst this is proving to be a harrowing project for us, we do have the huge incentive of knowing the information we gather will be invaluable in helping the police protect a really vulnerable section of our society."

Mr Neale added: "The feedback is people are pleased that we are taking burglary seriously and that we are looking at core issues."

Crime prevention measures are being taken while the survey is running and have defeated one burglar in his attempt to break into the same house within hours.

Mr Neale said: "What we are looking to do is reduce the incidence of burglary and, even more, reduce repeat burglary, and to reassure the public that we are there working in partnership.