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Operation Excalibur will involve officers in consultation with local communities to collect intelligence on active criminals and clean up troublespots.

It will also provide high-profile policing as part of the New Deal for Communities plan which includes setting up a mobile CCTV system to cover 90% of the New Deal area.

The initiative follows on from the earlier Operation Telegraph programme which focused on house burglaries after an increase in the crime in Moston and Newton Heath.

Under that operation 36 offenders were arrested resulting in a drop in the number of offences.

This time last year there were 180 burglaries rising to a peak of almost 200 in May 99 against a target of 160 across the North A2 sub division.

Assaults stood at 125 against a standard of less than 90. Figures peaked at 170 in May but reached a half-year low of less than 100 last September.

Robberies shot up from just over 20 last April to a high of 50 in May but gradually falling back to the April figure before rising to more than 30 in line with the force standard.

Car crime fell from just over 190 in April 1999 to less than 170 in May but continued to rise to 250 in November, dipping to around 220 by January 2000 against a target of just over 80.

Youths causing a nuisance started at 350 rising to almost 400 in October but plunged to 150 in December. Figures began to rise again in January to just over 200 against a target of around 250.