A POLICE officer is trying to raise £1m in a bid to reduce crime in the county.

Detective Constable Jane Harrison works for the York and North Yorkshire Partnership Unit and has the main responsibility of securing funding for crime reduction schemes in her area.

Having served as a police officer for ten years, she started her job as partnership development officer just over a year ago, and has already collected £375,000.

As the largest rural force in the country, North Yorkshire Police rely on DC Harrison to raise the vital funding.

The Government's blitz on street crime has concentrated on the inner cities, and so their funding tends to be concentrated on these forces, to the detriment of North Yorkshire.

Two separate bids of £500,000 are currently in the pipeline.

UK Coal has agreed, subject to planning permission, to donate a site at North Selby where young people can receive education and rehabilitation and various bodies have agreed to contribute £500,000 towards the project. Det Con Harrison also hopes that a bid for European funding of £500,000 will lead to the introduction of a district wide community warden project for the Scarborough area.

It is hoped that the scheme will help to reduce the fear of crime by providing reassurance in the community.

Det Con Harrison said: "As a police officer, I see my role as trying to link economic regeneration to the community safety and crime reduction agenda.

"The majority of my work does not result in funds being allocated directly to the police, but the successful development of programmes and projects funded by external sources and delivered by partners, will help achieve the aim of North Yorkshire Police to reduce crime."