Gloucester Police have publically expressed concerns at the financial pressures facing them with Chief Constable Melville describing it as a 'metaphorical cliff edge.'
We're very lucky here in Kent that we're managing despite having to cut £50million during a four year period. The Authority and Force have done a really good job at planning for the austerity measures and I'm proud of all involved.
Last November the Force underwent a shakeup that led to frontline services being boosted by 50%. Neighbourhood policing is at the heart of what we do here and we know from our consultation work that the public wants to see more officers on the beat. Despite all the financial pressures the force has been able to deliver this which is no mean feat.
Being an ex-teacher I was interested to read about the growth of gangs in London. I'm really passionate about young people and I think there is the risk of tarnishing everyone with the same brush. Yes the London riots were a shock but not every person involved was a youngster. It's hard to say what young people could be offered in this day and age to change their behaviour and values; many would say that the first lesson starts at home. I was staggered and quite sad at the estimated number of London gang members which is over 4,000. I hope that the Met and partner agencies can do something to radically reduce this.
Today I saw the Home Secretary giving her speech on police reform and the desire to see forces 'quickly identify the vulnerable and those who reported incidents repeatedly, and to prioritise their cases.' I'm pleased to say that Kent is ahead of the game as last year the Authority and Force implemented a new anti-social behaviour strategy.
The new way of working draws on the lessons learned from high-profile national cases such as Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her 18-year-old disabled daughter, Francesca Hardwick, in October 2007 after 10 years of harassment from local youths.
This subject is very emotive and whenever I'm out and about it's the quality of life crimes that really hit people hard. I'll watch with interest the findings from the Home Office on anti-social behaviour and remain confident that Kent has a very good system in place to deal with these complaints.