The new community officers will help tackle anti-social behaviour

North Yorkshire Police is to recruit 30 community support officers (CSOs).

Many CSOs are already working with police officers elsewhere in the country.

But this will be the first time they will have been employed in North Yorkshire.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said: "CSOs complement the work of police officers.

"They focus on low level crime and anti-social and nuisance behaviour which all too often make people's lives a misery."

There are already 1,350 CSOs working in England and Wales.

Mr Blunkett has announced that an extra 1,200 are to be employed including the 30 in North Yorkshire.

The target is that there will be 4,000 CSOs by 2005.