THE number of young runaways in Lancashire has been reduced by 20 per cent, thanks to a pioneering police project.

And the computer system for tracing missing people is so successful it is being rolled out to other forces.

It comes after almost four years of hard work by Lancashire Constabulary, local authorities, private care homes and specialist children's workers.

And it was the brainchild of Inspector Neil Middleham after he watched officers being overwhelmed by paperwork on missing person cases.

He said: "As well as giving a more efficient way of dealing with missing persons it also gives us an overview of the problem.

"Previously it was difficult to compile any data because information was stored on paper across the country.

"We were running round repeatedly after some kids who were going missing day after day. It had a serious impact on policing."

It wasn't until all the details were transferred to the computer that Insp Middleham and his colleagues began to see the full extent of the problem.

It showed that from 6,200 investigations every year in the county, more than 4,800 involved people under 18 and most were girls aged between 13 and 15. They discovered that about 300 children accounted for around 3,200 cases annually. One child had gone missing from a care home 78 times in 12 months.

From the information collected, Lancashire Constabulary was able to set up a pilot scheme called "three strikes and you're in", offering specialist support for children who went missing three times or more in 90 days.

Insp Middleham said: "We set up a system of rewards and told children if they didn't go missing they could have more supervised visits to their family.

"In some care homes we switched DVD and takeaway night to a Friday to discourage children from absconding."

The computer system has won the Guardian's Children's Services award and Greater Manchester Police is the latest force to use it.

Insp Middleham said: "The system is unique. It has been designed by police and social carers to not just handle cases but also to help with the problem solving."