Community engagement officer PC Sohail Akhtar officially opened a contact point today at Girlington Community Centre, in Girlington Road, Bradford.

Elderly residents in Girlington had requested a police contact point at the their community centre to help break down barriers between them and the police.

PC Akhtar will run the sessions every other Thursday in Urdu to help increase links between police and residents.

Girlington Elderly Community Association chairman Rehmat Ali said: “We met and we suggested the contact point to the police at our last meeting because of a lack of trust between the police and the local community, so we just wanted to get the barrier moved by meeting so often.”

Mr Ali said residents have had regular contact with PCSOs in the past but language barriers could get in the way.

PC Akhtar said: “These are the communities which are hard to reach.

“Many of them do not speak or understand English, or it is their second language, so these contact points will be run in Urdu.”