Crime in central Hove has been slashed by 75 per cent after police swamped the area with beat officers.

The initiative - which flies in the face of current policing methods - has reduced incidents to a handful of minor offences.

The blitz in a one-mile radius of George Street is now being discussed by senior officers at the force's headquarters in Lewes and by members of Sussex Police Authority.

One member, Brighton and Hove councillor Ken Bodfish, said: "It has reinforced what the public has been crying out for and I strongly believe this has implications not just for the rest of Sussex but for the nation as a whole."

Hove introduced 24-hour patrols in the George Street area over Christmas and the New Year.

Results announced today show a 75 per cent cut in all crime compared with the same period last year.

Only 12 offences were recorded and there was a 60 per cent reduction in burglaries and violent offences.

One major store in George Street transferred security staff to another branch because they had nothing to do and shopkeepers said they had never felt safer.

The crackdown is also credited with reducing crime in the rest of Hove, where burglaries dropped by 29 per cent, car crimes by 18 per cent and violent offences by three per cent.

Superintendent Graham Cox and Chief Inspector Stuart Harrison, who led the blitz, believe striking hard at street level has a positive effect on all crime.

Mr Harrison said more officers had been put into the front line by closing down some desk-bound units, putting some plain-clothes officers back in uniform and cutting paperwork.

He vowed the Hove-Shoreham police division would continue the initiative throughout the year.

Coun Bodfish said: "This is an excellent example of what high-profile policing can do and I hope it will be used on a much wider basis in Sussex."