PEOPLE power is the next weapon up police officers' sleeves in the fight to net speeding motorists racing through the streets.

It comes as road safety police launch a new initiative to hand out £300 mobile speed cameras to the public to catch drivers flouting the law.

The scheme will concentrate on small streets in residential areas that do not have permanent cameras, where speeding has been identified as a problem.

Residents will be selected to run the cameras through parish councils and given extensive training on how to operate the speed guns.

Motorists caught by residents, who will be overseen by beat bobbies and community support officers, will receive warning letters.

Then, if a lot of people are found to be speeding in an area, police will set up mobile speed camera sites to issue £60 fines with three penalty points.

Chief Inspector Val Prince, head of road policing at Lancashire police, said: "This is not about the police saving money, it's about making roads safer.

"We will do a thorough assessment of whether a particular area needs this scheme, and if we find a need then we will do it."

Father-of-two Chris Walsh, 38, from Azalea Close, Preston, whose daughters Becky, 11, and Jenny, nine, campaigned last year for motorists to slow down in their street, said: "I think this scheme is a great idea, we get people coming straight off the motorway doing 40 mph when they reach our street.

"It's just a matter of time before some one gets run over on our street," said the BT engineer.

The specially trained residents will record the details of the vehicle and the camera will take a picture.

Chief Insp Prince said: "We will probably send out a warning letter initially as one of the things we don't want to happen is for there to be confrontation between motorists and members of the public.

"If the beat managers are there at the time, they may wish to issue a verbal warning."

Although the initiative has been welcomed, a road pressure group said it was concerned the scheme may lead to people conducting vendettas against their neighbours.

Edmund King, executive director of road safety group the RAC Foundation, said: "There are concerns that if you use civilians you can get people targeting neighbours.

"There should be enough money going into the system to finance more traffic police.

"Because this is about warning people and education rather than enforcement I don't think it will do any harm and speeding in residential areas is a major problem, but should it be up to residents to take it into their own hands?"

The pilot scheme will start on April 1 in East Lancashire but police aim to expand the initiative to areas, including Preston and South Ribble, where they see a need to take action against speeding motorists.