Jeremy Paine has a simple message for criminals in Sussex: "You are going to get caught."

The tough-talking 43-year-old, whose face has become known to millions as a presenter of TV's Crimewatch programme, is pleased the force is one of the few in the country seeing a drop in burglaries.

He now wants to see a similar decrease in other crimes across the county.

In the 12 months to March, there were 1,430 fewer burglaries than in the previous year - a 13 per cent drop.

But Det Supt Paine still accepts 9,546 reported burglaries in Sussex is too high. One statistic which pleases him further is evidence his officers are increasingly catching their men.

Last year 1,744 burglaries were detected, compared with 1,350 in the previous 12 months.

Det Supt Paine said: "This is a double whammy. We have reduced burglaries and we are catching more burglars.

"We are now fishing in a smaller pool. I want to make it clear, this is just the start.

"This force has set itself tough targets in reducing all types of crime and we want to reduce it still further.

"For each burglary we reduce, we reduce the impact of crime on a resident of Sussex. We regard each burglary as unacceptable."

Det Supt Paine, whose family home has been broken into, said: "I know what it is like to be burgled and it is not nice."

He is an advocate of the latest technology to assist crime fighting. He was the officer in charge of the Sion Jenkins case where the latest technology and top scientific brains were used to prove the Hastings deputy headmaster was guilty of murdering his step-

daughter Billie-Jo.

Det Supt Paine said: "This force has invested heavily in new technology.

"We now use a national computerised finger printing system which records prints from offenders.

"Before we just had to check each fingerprint one at a time and to

get information from outside of the force was very selective.

"This has really widened our scope for identification purposes.The other really significant step forward is DNA. We have invested very heavily in DNA at scenes of crime.

"DNA is present in people's sweat, saliva, and in sex cases, semen. There are lots of opportunities for obtaining DNA at scenes of crime, but I don't want to go into it because it would assist criminals.

"Technology is improving all the time. It is our job to take advantage of it and keep on top of it.

"The message to offenders is: 'You are going to get caught'.

"CCTV cameras have also helped. Using these tools we have looked at how we operate to take maximum advantage of how we can disrupt criminals.

"Twenty per cent of criminals commit 80 per cent of the crime. So if we can identify those 20 per cent, we can target specific offenders.

"It is about refining our investigation techniques when a crime

actually occurs. And it is also about people playing their part.

"They can help by taking an interest in what is going on around them and their neighbours, taking information and passing it on to us."

Sussex Police will continue prioritising crimes. Det Supt Paine admitted it will sometimes mean some people will not get a visit from a police officer following a minor crime, such as a vandal smashing a car window.

He said: "We have always prioritised certain serious crimes - murders, serious assaults and sex offences.

"Then you move into the volume crime areas; burglaries in homes and cars being broken into and assaults. We have now prioritised those three areas to try to get significant reductions.

"You can't prioritise everything. If you do that, then nothing is a

priority.

"We have shown by concentrating on burglaries we have had a significant impact in a relatively short period.

"We are now going to use the techniques we have learnt in reducing burglaries in other areas.

"All surveys show people are fed up with people breaking into their homes, and stealing, breaking into their cars, and violent crime. We will reduce such incidents.

"It is our job to make sure our police force is cost effective and that money is well spent.

"With vehicle crime it may be the right response is for an investigating officer and a forensic examiner to carry out their work.

"But it may be it is not cost effective because there is nothing left behind.

"It could have been an elbow through the window, for instance.There is no point in us trying to retrieve something which is not there.

"Through our business strategy we have a system whereby a professional assimilation is made.

"In some instances it is just gathering information about that event over the telephone.

"We would then put the information on a database and compare it with crime in that area.

"We have trained analysts who will compare that crime with another, and often they lead us to the people responsible.

"We have got to be sensible about it. Where there is something useful to be gained, a police office will turn up.

"People must not think that just because a police officer has not turned up, nothing is happening. It is about what we do with information."

On the question of crime in rural areas, brought into the limelight following the life sentence passed on Norfolk farmer Tony Martin for shooting a young burglar, Det Supt Paine said the police did not have infinite resources.

"It would not be sensible to put the same number of police officers in rural parts of Sussex as we do in our towns.

"Obviously there are fewer people per square mile. We have to make that judgement of balance between officers patrolling in rural and urban areas.

"At the same time we have to make the judgement between expenditure on technology and expenditure on people.

"You can always argue you need more money, but you cannot always have more money.

"You have to work with what you have got.Is it best to invest in this new piece of kit or in this new police officer?

"We must not get hung up about the number of police officers because a lot of valuable police work leading to the arrest of criminals is not done by police officers, but people who are experts in scientific fields.

"We have shown that through investment in improved techniques, such as DNA, we can make a significant contribution in reducing burglary.

"It is far too simplistic to say more police officers means better policing."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.