POLICE officers from South Africa have visited the region for advice.

Six senior officers and officials from Gauteng Police Service, which covers Johannesburg and Pretoria, were out and about in Durham City, hoping to learn how to engage with the public.

More than 2,000,000 crimes are committed in South Africa each year, while County Durham suffers 10,000.

South Africa witnesses ten murders per day, with fewer than ten a year in County Durham.

However, Solomon Maila, director of special policing projects for the Gauteng state policing minister, believes there are lessons to be learnt despite the differences.

He said: “The areas are massively different, but we are here because we want a fuller sense of how the police here promote relations between themselves and communities.”

He said Durham’s Best Bar None responsible drinking initiative, use of plastic pint glasses in pubs and clubs, good relations with other authorities and deployment of mobile police stations were particularly impressive.

He said: “We are winning the war against crime. We have massively improved.

ART HERITAGE: The Ferry, by LS Lowry “Given the history we had where the police were used, pre-1994, as an extension of the repressive arm of government, I can safely say that we have come a long way.

“There was a time in the early Nineties when parts of the country were no-go areas, but not now.”

Inspector Paul Anderson, from Durham Police, said: “Policing is very similar the world over. They have a lot more crime than us, but policing is virtually the same.”

The African delegation visited the North-East after reading online about a campaign to make Durham the UK’s safest city. Their tour also includes London, Merseyside and the Netherlands.

Insp Anderson said: “Durham Constabulary has always taken pride in the contact we have with our communities and it is good to hear our efforts are making news thousands of miles away.”

Gauteng province is the smallest in South Africa, covering 7,000sq miles, but has 11.1 million people. It is the country’s economic powerhouse.

The delegation included three officers who served as operational commanders at the 2010 World Cup.