Policing!

[Drusilla]

It would appear none of the forty three police forces in England and Wales have agreed to merge and the Association of Police Authorities have described the merger plans as flawed.
I would be interested to know what type of changes ABers would wish to see. For example, would you like to see a national police force, an FBI style operation, armed police on the streets, bobbies on bicycles etc.
Personally, I would like to see more bobbies on the beat. I accept they don't reduce crime as much as we would like, but surely they would have a massive effect on our perception of crime, which we are frequently told is far worse than the reality of crime on our streets.
C'mon ABers, put the world to rights- 'You know you want to!!' :-)

[gary baldy]

I'm sure all the lazy coppers will kick and scream but the big problem is getting them out of their vehicles. Having coppers in cars has a two fold effect - firstly they are detatched from the street and what is going on. You only get a feel for an area when you walk around it and you are much more aware of what is happening if you are out and about.
Secondly it is one of perception. I feel much better when i see coppers on the street (as apposed to wizzing by in a car) and they are much more approachable when they arent in a car. People feel detatched from the police and many resent them, where as i feel in the past they were part of the fabric of the community. I think putting them in cars and this sense of detatchment are linked.
I dont think crime is any worse than before it is just that good people now feel a sense of futility and that the bad guys are winning.
Hug a copper today - thats what i say!

[Grunty]

Probably all retired officers (me included) think things were better in their day. The reason often given against a return to the beat is that statistically an officer will come across a serious crime in progress once in 38 years, and they only serve for 30 years. In reality, crimes are solved by receiving information, and the public give information to people they know. People used to know and trust their own Mr Plod, and all the associated intelligence-gathering has been lost. As well as prevention and detection of crime, there is the responsibility of making people feel secure and the acquisition of local knowledge. In general, people will speak to a known and visible officer and not to an anonymous controller. That is why the crime figures go up with officers on the streets where people can report crimes that would otherwise be unreported. I therefore swim against the tide and favour more officers on the streets (that is on the streets, not on the streets on paper).

Previous amalgamations have had one principal result - remoteness from anyone who does not live in the city. When a major (or even small) incident occurs in the town or city where the commander is located, is is too tempting to call in all the officers from villages and small towns. I remember officers being sent 70 miles to a fight, having to refuel on the way, and leaving about 200 square miles completely devoid of police.

Rant over (but only for the moment).

[WendyS]

Big is no longer beautiful and I think that this applies in the police force as much as anything else. Every reorganisation sucks up time, money, rebriefing and retraining and wastes an enormous amount of energy which would be better spent directing the police onto the streets at a neighbourhood level. Our own local police force has alredy undergone one major reoorganisation this year. We don't want to spend more money have another bureaucratic reorganisation. The proposed changes seem to have too hastily thought out. No doubt certain changes are necessary to cope with the current changing demands on the police force but a national debate is needed, not some government minister trying to impose them on us all as an ill thought out early Christmas present.

[Grunty]

Wendy's comment on 'some government minister' reminds me that I had intended to say something about the dangers of a national police force, which is fairly obviously the eventual aim. The reason that Britain's police are politically independent is that they are locally controlled. What are the chances of a national force with somebody's crony in control?