Re-drawing the thin blue line

OVER the last 30 years, some Home Secretaries seem to have lived in fear of the police while others have taken a pleasure in being seen to confront them. Now, however, with the spending crisis forcing the men, and women, in blue to accept the inevitability of cuts, it could be time to start working with them.

No politician would argue for a situation where just one in every 10 police officers is visibly available to the public. Similarly, no one in the police could reasonably defend it. So the answer must be for Government and law-enforcement to tackle the cuts together.

There have already been too many "reforms" of the police over the last 30 years but strong-willed federation representatives – the shop stewards of the forces – would surely agree to another series of changes if they included a cut in the mountain of paperwork, fewer Whitehall diktats and a boost in the number of officers on the beat.

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It is utterly illogical that, according to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, so few police and community support officers can meet frontline demands when there have been year-on-year budget increases over the past four decades. In recent times, it is a sad reflection of Labour's spell in office, which saw total crime fall in Yorkshire but produced organisational changes rather than genuine reforms and efficiencies.

It is important to get police back on the beat. While the chances of them interrupting a crime in progress are very small, the presence of

an officer, or the sense that one could be just around the corner, provides reassurance to the public and helps deters criminals.

Given the cost of the police, and the need to budget for their

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pensions, putting them on the frontline would also be a better use of Government resources. Chief constables recognise that the way they spend their money has to change and there is proof of this in Yorkshire, where Mark Whyman was appointed deputy chief constable for the entire region.

The growth in organised crime, the terrorist threat and the prevalence of the internet mean the police have to change the way they work. They have begun to do this but, with Britain facing a decade of cuts, it's time Ministers got behind them.