Crime has fallen, but people still need to feel safer

The Crime and Disorder legislation, which required us for the first time to work in partnership to reduce crime and disorder, was a very telling piece of legislation and has made an impact. There is more to be done and some aspects of the legislation, not least the anti-social behaviour orders, are overly-bureaucratic and that is being addressed.

Much of what is suggested in the current reform programme for the police are matters that the service has argued for over many years, and it is to the credit of the Government that it has grasped that nettle and put forward proposals to develop those issues. I say "develop" because clearly discussions need to take place - but we should not reject any of the proposals out of hand but seek what is best for the benefit of those we serve.

In Durham, we have always believed that officers on the beat with the right information at the right time and in the right place, can make a difference. It is a comfort to know that that is now recognised across the country.

It was not always that way. More money has been made available for additional recruitment, and while those officers are being recruited it will, of course, take some time for them to be fully trained and operationally effective. Nonetheless, progress is being made.

Considerable progress has also been made in improving and developing scientific support to crime investigation and again there is good evidence that the investment is having a dramatic effect on crime detection and therefore a reduction in both serious and volume crime areas.

Against all of that positive work, there are some irritations - not least in the pay and conditions package offered to police officers. There appears to be a growing view that those in public service, particularly the police service, do it for the money and if more money is available to some they will work harder.

Nothing could be further from the truth. All officers and support staff are valued and are interdependent. I hope we can move away from the notion of variable pay and incentives, for they will severely undermine the service ethos of policing and that will benefit no one. In policing terms, no one of us is smarter than all of us.

In trying to assess whether Labour has delivered its manifesto promises, I would point out that it is the Government which delivers services to the people of County Durham and Darlington.

It is the Government's role to set policy and strategy, and seek to move organisations towards achieving in those areas, but in my judgement it should not be criticised for the failures in service delivery, if that is what they are, for predominantly those responsibilities rest elsewhere.

The law and order debate is a worthy one and it is a laudable objective that people should feel safe in their homes and safe on the streets and enjoy a quality of life untroubled by crime and social disorder. That is the Government's intent and it is a vision shared by all in the Durham Constabulary.

I have always argued that public service organisations should not be required to rely solely on hard targets in delivering their services. Such an approach skews performance and there is much evidence in policing that that has been the case.

We should be involved in community projects, youth work, diversionary schemes and many, many others, but unfortunately they do not receive recognition in a target-driven regime.

Durham favours a performance management regime seeking continuous improvement, and it is by far the most positive approach. We will always involve ourselves in community issues and be able to justify that involvement.

It is up to the public services to have confidence in the delivery of services they deem appropriate for the people of their areas, for if they do I firmly believe no government will interfere with that.

We must also be aware that we police in a changing society. There is a greater awareness of the rights of the individual, although that does not appear to be matched by an awareness of responsibilities.

It is evident to me that we police in a less tolerant society than when I was a young officer. That becomes very clear in the work I do outside of policing with youth clubs. The gap between the old and the young in terms of tolerance and understanding is widening, and we all need to be aware of that. I played football in the street when I was a boy - but my father told me which street I should play in! When I reflect on my 40-plus years of policing, my one area of major concern is the lack of parental influence on our young people.

We also need to make our communities aware of those areas the police service are required to work in which deflect us from our major responsibility, that of presence on the streets. Drugs, terrorism, firearms offences and many others require a large proportion of our officers to specialise to meet those challenges and that is often at the expense of visible policing.

So, there is much that is good happening and progress is being made. But central and local government and indeed chief constables must never lose sight of the fact that progress will only be delivered through people. Those people need to be valued and that ethos will be destroyed if we seek to reward some roles more favourably than others.