THE Government has named two new "tsars" charged with reducing crime across the North-East and North Yorkshire.

The crime reduction directors will try to strengthen links between the police, local community groups and central government to co-ordinate the fight against crime.

The North-East director, retired deputy chief constable at Northumbria Police, Alan Brown, has already been appointed. Former civil servant Greg Dyche will take up his post in Yorkshire next month.

The Home Office announced the appointments along with seven others based across the country. Their role will be to build working relations with the Crime and Reduction Partnerships, which incorporate community groups, health authorities, police and the probation service.

Announcing the appointments, Home Office Minister Charles Clarke said: "The new directors will focus on improving the effectiveness of these partnerships by providing relevant guidance and training, identifying and spreading good practice and monitoring crime reduction performance."

Mr Brown joined Northumbria Police in 1967. He worked as acting assistant chief constable in 1991, which coincided with riots in inner-city Newcastle. He was made deputy chief constable in 1997 before he retired from the force this year.

Mr Dyche, a law graduate, worked in a number of Government departments before joining the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber six years ago.