CRIME prevention will lower the burden on police as they cope with government cuts, a councillor has claimed.

Cllr Liam Irving said that increased awareness from residents could cut crime rates and free up overburdened officers at a forum with residents and the police at St Saviour Primary School.

PC Andy Smart and PCSO Derek Swift fielded questions on drug dealing and steps people should take to prevent burglaries and car crime.

Cllr Irving is defending his seat in Kearsley in May after Cllr Derek Burrows retained his seat there by just 43 votes after a surge from UKIP.

Crime prevention is to be one of his central electoral messages.

Police at the meeting, chaired by Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi, said crime rates in Kearsley were not as high as in other parts of Bolton, but that two pensioners were robbed in their own homes in the area just after Christmas.

Cllr Irving said: "I was very pleased with the night.

"The police came and did an excellent presentation.

"The key messages are lock your doors and windows, and put your car keys away.

"We are going to be short on police officers because of the cuts.

"Hopefully if we can get the idea of protecting yourselves and your property into peoples' psyche it might improve things."

An 86-year-old was pushed to the ground in Kearsley on Boxing Day at home and had his wallet taken from his back pocket.

Meanwhile, shortly after midnight on Sunday, December 28, a 78-year-old man fell victim to a similar offence

Andy Morgan, Conservative candidate for the Heaton and Lostock ward, said: "We should do our bit by helping them out, either with neighbourhood watch schemes or other community policing.

"The numbers in the police force are not going to change whatever happens to the government in May.

"We should be helping the police out as much as possible."

Joan Johnson, chair of UKIP in Bolton, said: "Crime prevention is a good thing, but there should be more police officers on the streets, something UKIP nationally has said."

A police spokesman said: "Everyone has a responsibility to make Greater Manchester a safer and better place. It is not the sole responsibility of the police, it is about every business, resident, visitor and student taking responsibility for their own property and having consideration for each other."

For more information on crime prevention, visit www.gmp.police.uk