COMMUNITY POLICING 2

Every home in England and Wales will be sent a phone number for their local beat bobby under a new anti-crime plan. Residents will also be given a say over which issues are tackled by their police officer under the plan to be unveiled by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Households will get details of the officer dealing with crime in their area and a direct number and email address. The £324million scheme, which will be introduced by April, follows a series of successful pilot projects. Each police team will concentrate on a handful of streets and work with residents to tackle the crimes they most fear. The hotlines will also allow people to report vandalism, graffiti and suspicious characters.

Miss Smith wants the Neighbourhood Policing Programme to help householders get to know their local coppers and work with them to tackle yobs. Each squad of police and community support officers will cover areas about the size of a council ward. The scheme follows a damning report which warned six million police hours a year are wasted on red tape. Ms Smith wants the new teams to provide a high-profile presence on the streets and "forge trusting relationships with local people". People will still be urged to ring 999 for emergencies and to report serious crimes. A senior ministerial source said, "The new teams will be asking people about what makes them feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods. The police will also give households regular feedback." (Source: Sunday Mirror, Feb/08)

By employing civilians rather than police officers to manage custody suites it is hoped that, during 2004-5, 25 more officers will be freed up to join the 178 currently on the beat. This is on top of the 22 new beat officers the force has promised to pay for out of £2.2m raised by the 11% rise in its council tax precept for the year. The extra officers will be funded by money received from council tax payers and money saved by paying civilians, who are paid less than police officers.

During the winter, a massive public survey revealed that most people wanted to see more bobbies on the beat. At roadshows, over 2,800 residents were asked how they would prioritise police cash, and 24.5% said they would give most money to community policing. New police figures also show encouraging trends in the fight against crime. There was a 3.5% drop in recorded crime between April 2003 and February 2004, compared to the same period last year. That amounts to 90,981 crimes, compared to 94,238.

Burglaries were down by 8.8%, with 7,220 incidents in 2003-4 compared to 7,916 the previous year. Vehicle crime saw a 13.2% reduction, with 13,357 crimes compared to 15,395. However, violent offences continued to rise, with assaults, robberies and sex offences on the increase. The detection rate has gone down, with police solving 22,929 crimes this year compared with 24,390 the previous year.

Two criminals who called at an unlocked and deserted police station ended up "minding the shop" until officers arrived. The pair, who by their own admission have "records as long as your arm", had gone to the police station in Cinderford, Glos, to reclaim a stolen bass guitar box. Dennis Jones and Wayne Morgan waited long enough to be sure there was no one at all manning the station and then used an intercom buzzer at the door to see if they could raise anyone. They found themselves talking to officers 15 miles away in Gloucester. "They thought we were messing around," said Mr Jones. "They told us to wait and they would send someone over from Coleford, about six miles away. Gloucestershire police said, "We are aware of an incident. Security at the station is being reviewed." (Source: Daily Mirror)

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