CARACAS, (Reuters) – Children tussle after dark on a  dusty soccer field used just weeks ago as a shooting range by  local drug gangs, a sign that a new police force is making a  mark on one of Venezuela’s most violent slums.

Under a system influenced by Northern Ireland’s Police  Service, policemen now patrol the tangled alleys of the Catia  neighborhood night and day, using community-focused policing to  gather tips about local criminals who menace residents.

“After 6 p.m., this was basically under curfew,” said  40-year-old local resident Rocio Barrios. “These kids should be  in their homes now because it’s late, but they are not in  danger. We no longer feel in danger.”

Stacked toward the Caribbean Sea on steep hillsides in  western Caracas, Catia and the surrounding area are home to  around 400,000 people. It is one of the crime-wracked capital’s  most notorious barrios.

Opposition parties have put the soaring national murder  rate seen under President Hugo Chavez squarely at the heart of  their campaign for Sept. 26 legislative elections in which they  expect to slash the socialist’s parliamentary majority.