RUNCORN police are to target kids who jump onto broken shopping trolleys hidden in canals.

A community support officer has been assigned to help clean up crime around the Bridgewater canal.

Paul Lumb said: "Our greatest fear is come the summer you have kids jumping into the canals, primarily around the areas near the bridges.

"They are jumping into the water near shopping trolleys that have been broken up by barges passing over them.

"It's going to happen one day where someone will jump in and not come back up."

Paul will be the point of contact for all the everyday crime that affects the canal.

Paul added: "The crime is a lot to do with nuisance youths stoning the barges going under the bridges.

"And when you have outsiders coming in the first thing they see is all the graffiti and we need to get that eradicated.

"We have a graffiti team employed by Halton Council that checks on these sorts of problems.

"There are also thefts from the barges.

"A lot of them are not just someone's holiday boat, they are personal places, it's like being broken into in your own home.

"The thieves have the idea that because it's a barge, these people can afford it - but it's their home."