Two German police officers could soon experience patrolling the North Yorkshire beat as part of an exchange between Munster and York.

The scheme follows a successful visit by senior Munster police officers to York, where they were shown the force's latest crime-busting facilities during a fact-finding trip.

A pair of North Yorkshire officers will make a reciprocal trip to Munster later this year and senior officers hope the experience will benefit both forces.

Chief Superintendent John Lacy, police commander for York and Selby, said he found there are many law enforcement similarities between York and Munster.

But he said the German force has twice as many officers and almost four times as many detectives, despite covering a similar-sized city.

He added that the number of burglaries each year in Munster was a fifth of the number committed in York and he said this was largely due to developers "building out crime".

"The lasting factor was that they have double the number of police officers, both high visibility and detectives, on the streets. Clearly that makes a big impact on crime," he said.

Updated: 09:30 Monday, May 26, 2003