If, as you claim, senior police officers fear that further cuts will lead to “1980s-style emergency-only policing” (Report, 15 December), then I assume they know very little about policing in that decade. When I joined the Metropolitan police in 1980, I went to Clapham police station, where 16 or so police officers were on the streets every shift to patrol and respond to emergency calls. Each of the 12 “beats” had dedicated “home beat officers” to attend to community matters. There was a CID office with about 20 detectives, a proactive crime squad of about 10 officers, and a dedicated team of officers to investigate minor or “beat” crimes. We had a crime prevention officer and our own scenes-of-crime officer. Every report of crime was responded to by an officer in person and every crime was assigned an investigating officer. Moreover, the public could phone the police station or attend the front office and speak to a local police officer who knew the area. Almost every police station provided this level of service – and in those days fully functioning police stations were no more than a few miles apart. I think that, with a few tweaks, the 80s style of policing would suit most people very well.
David Cox
London
• There is no doubt that police forces are going to continue to face financial challenges, and that efficiency savings will need to be made. To that extent, I am in agreement with Bernard Hogan-Howe (Cuts without reform put the public at risk, 15 December). Where we part company is over his proposal for nine “super-forces”. They may well qualify as “super” in terms of size, land area and budget, but whether they would be judged as such in terms of service offered to the public may be completely different.
The strategic alliance between Warwickshire and West Mercia police is achieving the vast majority of savings that would be achieved through a merger, without sacrificing the element that a lot of senior police officers overlook – local democratic accountability. While there are areas like procurement and IT where big savings are still available, none of these require the nuclear option of lumping forces arbitrarily together. We must find ways of making the public relate more closely to the police; gargantuan super-forces will have the opposite effect.
Ron Ball
Police and crime commissioner for Warwickshire
