POLICE will be stepping up patrols around secondary schools after Bolton received a £350,000 cash boost to help tackle youth crime.

The Home Office has pledged the money as part of a £5.6 million funding package across the North West.

Bolton is one of just 16 areas to get the money to combat youth nuisance.

From next month, police will be stepping up after-school patrols to prevent youth crime and anti-social behaviour.

Police said their main role would be to get out and speak to local youngsters outside school hours, helping to break down barriers and, in turn, reduce low-level crime.

Insp Shane O’Neill, manager of the town’s operational policing unit, said: “My main objective is to increase the contact between police and youths to build confidence and improve the relationship we have with them.”

Insp O’Neill said the after-school patrols would help reassure communities living around schools and hopefully decrease “preconceptions” that all young people are committing crime.

Police will also be launching Operation Staysafe, which aims to take vulnerable children off the streets at night and return them to their parents or an alternative safe place.

The Government money will also help fund a pilot scheme which will see young troublemakers given on-the-spot punishments by police officers.

As reported in The Bolton News on Saturday, troublesome youths, aged between 10 and 17, who admit to low-level crimes, will be forced to face their victims and apologise.

And to make sure the punishment fits the crime, the victim will then get a say in how the young offender can make good the wrong they have done. Under the Youth Restorative Disposal (YRD) scheme, young people could be forced to litter-pick, clean graffiti or pay for criminal damage instead of going to court.

Police hope it will stop first-time offenders who have made silly mistakes from being caught up in the criminal justice system and help to cut red tape for frontline officers.

Home Office Minister Alan Campbell said: “This funding is crucial in our fight against youth crime, both in terms of preventing young people turning to crime and protecting young people becoming victims of crime.”