The idea is to let them test their reactions, with the aim of encouraging them to become streetwise good citizens.

The Crime Conquest CD-rom allows users to wander a simulated townscape and deal with situations involving drugs, arson, joy-riding and shoplifting from the point of view of a police officer or a member of the public.

Hands on: "It's life-like"

It is being distributed to up to 300 schools in 10 local authorities in Greater Manchester. The area's police force, which developed it, says its officers spend more than 15,120 hours a year liaising with schoolchildren.

But this system goes further. Using the latest technology it puts pupils in situations where they have to decide how best to protect themselves and people around them.

Children trying it out at Sale Grammar School enjoyed the experience - they found it "more interesting" than being talked at by a police officer.

Arrested

In a virtual reality world, 13-year-old Amanda witnesses a road accident caused by a joyrider. She is the first on the scene - finding a smashed car and someone dead.

She is confronted by choices. Entering instructions on a keyboard, she decides to run for help, but she runs too far. A policeman sees her and Amanda is arrested on suspicion of running away from the scene of accident.

One scenario shows an arson attack on a school

When children find themselves confronted by muggers, they have to decide how to escape. And in one of the more alarming scenarios, children who jaywalk are run down by a bus.

Greater Manchester's Chief Supt Kevin Hart, who led the project's development, said: "The best way of communicating a message to young people is through experience, not just sitting them down and lecturing them.

"In Crime Conquest they make choices with consequences in a simulated environment but hopefully they will pick up on what they learn and apply it in the real world.

"Down the line some of it may save their lives or the life of somebody else, and allow them to make positive choices as a responsible child or adult."

At the official launch, the Home Office Minister Kate Hoey said: "Projects such as these complement the government's work on tackling crime, and youth crime in particular.

"It is vital that we use whatever tools are available to educate our young people in what are the best ways of dealing with challenging and difficult situations.

Headteacher Jennifer Connelly: "They get to see the consequences of their actions"

"What better than allowing them to learn in the safety of their homes or classrooms?"

The package was put together by the Virtual Presence company. One of its directors, Professor Bob Stone, said the idea was the program would be used by groups of eight children at a time, with two taking the controls and the others making notes and discussing what to do.

The police force four years ago had a crude 'simulator' in the form of a wooden maze which was barely transportable. After seeing a Virtual Presence TV advert for British Nuclear Fuels they decided to convert to virtual reality.

Crime Conquest can run on a VR headset but Prof Stone said that for health and safety reasons he would discourage that in schools.

Although the system was originally designed for presentation to children of 11 and older he says children from three to 17 have enjoyed using it.

It combines three elements: Superscape's Virtual Reality Toolkit, the images of people, buildings and vehicles, and AVI movie sequences running via Microsoft's Direct-X interface. The minimum requirement is a 133MHz Pentium or equivalent processor.

The program costs about £80 for a single copy, less for multiple copies.