A POLICE Inspector, seen as a rising star of the force, has been charged with three counts of assault.

Inspector Muztaq Patala, based at Eastern Division headquarters Greenbank Police Station, was arrested at his home in the Pleckgate area of Blackburn.

He was held in the police cells overnight before being questioned.

Insp Patala was charged last night with three counts of assault causing actual bodily harm.

The Lancashire Telegraph understands the allegations are of a historical nature.

He was due to appear before Chorley magistrates today.

His arrest came on the day it could be revealed a former Nelson police sergeant Salim Razaq was facing jail for taking over the running of his family's organised crime group.

Insp Patala, known as Muz, is responsible for all of the neighbourhood policing teams in Eastern division, which covers Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley.

He was responsible for introducing a revolutionary way of dealing with the issue of prostitution in Blackburn, by offering people caught soliciting for sex or selling sex ‘conditional cautions’.

This meant that they could avoid prosecution by taking part in a course to try and steer them away from the street sex industry.

It was one of the first schemes of its kind in the country.

He is also credited with the success of Operation Staysafe, which takes place in Blackburn with Darwen on weekend nights to try to get young teenagers and children vulnerable to crime, or likely to commit crime, off the streets.

Insp Patala is highly-rated by Lancashire Police and helped implement the changes to neighbourhood policing working patterns in the wake of the constabulary’s shift review, which came into force last month.

He was arrested on Thursday night, before being questioned throughout the day yesterday.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “Police have arrested a 33-year-old man from Blackburn on suspicion of a domestic violence offence.

“He is currently in custody and will be interviewed during the course of the day.

“The arrested man is a serving police officer who works in Eastern Division.”

A spokesman for the Lancashire Police Federation said they couldn’t comment other than to confirm that an officer had been arrested for a ‘non-police related matter’.

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