05 March 2004
A culture change rather than extra resources is needed if police forces are to transform communities into places where people feel safe from crime, the home secretary told a conference this week.
Buoyed by a record rise in police numbers, David Blunkett said significant changes could be achieved within existing resource levels if services and service users could be persuaded to do things differently.
He pointed to the example of Oldham which, under the Reassurance Policing programme, has built up a successful partnership programme across local public sector agencies to help restore a sense of community in the wake of the 2001 race riots.
Fear of crime is a major challenge for the government. Despite a falling crime rate, almost two-thirds of people believe that crime has increased, according to Home Office figures.
'If you don't feel it, you don't believe it – only when people begin to feel safer will we know that we are beginning to make a real difference,' Blunkett said. 'The more secure we are, the more likely we are to be able to respond to requests to be good and active citizens.'
The visibility and availability of police officers was a key element of restoring trust to neighbourhoods, Blunkett said. He announced that police numbers in England and Wales has reached more than 138,000 – an all-time high.
Police numbers increased by almost 6,000 in 2003 – the highest annual rise on record – and the number of community support officers increased by more than 3,000 over the same period.
In addition, £5m has been earmarked for the Reassurance Policing programme, which aims to tackle fear of crime by identifying crimes that fuel fear in specific areas. Eight pilots, including Oldham, have seen police forces – with local authorities and residents – tackle common nuisances such as graffiti, vandalism and antisocial behaviour.
Blunkett also used his conference address to set out proposals to rebrand the Crown Prosecution Service.
The new Public Prosecution Service would have a modern democratic image, leading to greater confidence in its work.
'We have got to get across that the prosecution service is not neutral but on the side of the public,' the home secretary said.
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