POLICE officers are now riding on buses at peak times as a way of building stronger bonds with communities and being more proactive in the fight against crime.

From Wednesday this week, police and community support officers will travel on First buses between Worcester bus station and Malvern and between the city bus station and Dines Green (the 44 and 30 services).

The service will also cover Tenbury and surrounding rural areas and similar partnerships have been agreed with R&B Travel and Yarrantons.

These mobile surgeries are designed to reach out to the public and build even stronger relationships between officers and the communities they serve, particularly in rural areas.

The idea, developed by West Mercia Police with the backing of First, will allow people to report issues affecting them and their communities. It is hoped the scheme, the first of its kind in Worcester and Malvern, will make officers more accessible and approachable to the public.

Inspector Chris Percival, of Worcester Safer Neighbourhood Team, said he hoped the scheme would be of mutual benefit to the public, the bus company and the police.

"This is an alternative way of having the police accessible to their communities where people using the buses can easily interact with them," he said.

"They can raise any concerns with us about anti-social behaviour and criminality. It's a fresh idea, a fresh approach to allow members of the public to raise any concerns they have about crime or anti-social behaviour or anything else they believe to be important to improve their community. We hope to speak to a cross-section of people.

"We are hoping that doing this at peak times will provide some of our communities better access to the police and increase our visibility within these communities, especially the more rural communities. It will also help Midland First with reducing any anti-social behaviour on their network which affects other passengers. "

There is as yet no end date for the scheme with the potential for it to be extended to other rural routes should it prove successful.

Any issues reported do not have to be linked to problems on the buses but can be about anything of concern in the community, a police spokesman said.

If anyone has issues requiring a more immediate response then they should still call 101or 999 in an emergency.