Durham Crime Commissioner Joy Allen: Taking policing back to basics

Sir Robert Peel’s principles for policing may have been established nearly 200 years ago but they have just as much validity and relevance today. The foundations of neighbourhood policing were built on these very values, and I believe firmly they should continue to drive everything we do today. Crime may be evolving but there’s a real need to get back to basics with the original Peelian ideals guiding the way forward.

This is why I have adopted a Prevention First approach in my Police and Crime Plan, recognising that most crimes are preventable, and continue to endorse the notion that the police are part of the community, and the community are part of the police.

I recently attended the 201st annual meeting of the Weardale Felons which really brought these values home. Felons groups were formed before the very first national police force was created and were much like today’s Neighbourhood Watch schemes, with ordinary people working together to solve local problems and prevent crime. Very few Felons organisations remain active today and so I’m really proud that Weardale Felons is still going strong and that their principles are very much alive.

This month, we mark Neighbourhood Watch Week and National Volunteers Week. Volunteering is one of the most productive ways we can strengthen the relationship between the police and our communities. It goes back to the theme of policing by ‘consent’ with residents directly supporting safety efforts and helping to build accountability and confidence in the services they receive. In this vein, I’m supporting the recruitment of additional Special Constables across the force. These officers have all the powers of warranted officers and are actively preventing crime. It makes perfect sense to utilise the assets and skills within our community to build the world we all want to live in.

You only have to look at our road safety progress to appreciate the impact volunteers can make. The number of road traffic collisions across the county fell 19.2 per cent in 2021-22 compared to 2019-20. It is no coincidence this period coincided with the introduction of Community SpeedWatch campaigns as well as the increased roll out of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.

Similar success has been achieved through the Rural Watch Scheme which is deterring rural crime through its network of representatives including Farm Watch, Neighbourhood Watch, WhatsApp Alliances and the wider community. Durham Constabulary is one of the few forces nationally to have seen a drop in rural crime, specifically agricultural vehicles, machinery and livestock theft claims.

Without the public’s willingness and confidence to share information, little would get solved. Countless crimes are detected through people responding to appeals or simply contacting officers to tell them what they know. We know that anonymous reports from the force area to Crimestoppers rose by 31 per cent in the calendar year 2022 (604 extra reports) and cover all types from violence and drug trafficking through to drug driving and hidden harms such as domestic abuse.

As the founder of modern policing maintained, the best test of police effectiveness is the absence of crime and disorder – not police action dealing with offenders. In every corner of our force area, people are working tirelessly to stop crime happening in the first place. There is unfortunately no way of measuring how many crimes they have prevented but we know that it is substantial. We can invest in all the resources and technology in the world, but the fact remains, the police need the support of the people and the people need the support of the police.

Joy Allen (Labour) is the Durham Police & Crime Commissioner