THIS MAKES A PLEASANT CHANGE

There is an old saying along the line of if you stand in the same place long enough then eventually everything will go passed you again. The re-opening of several Gwent police stations by Ian Johnston, the local police and crime commissioner (PCC) , should be welcomed. This bold decision and effectively reverses cuts made  to front desk services at the seven stations (out of 17 stations) that were originally closed to the public back in 2012 (with the loss of 19 jobs). The package of cuts was originally aimed to save around £500,000 as part of £34 million pounds worth of budget savings (by 2015). Gwent Police are reopening Police stations in Caerphilly, Chepstow, Maindee, Monmouth, Pontypool, Risca and Ystrad Mynach. The changes mean that Abertillery police station will now be open to the public on Thursday and Friday from 09:00 to 17:00, with Brynmawr open Monday to Wednesday from 09:00 to 17:00, it is worth noting that previously both these Police stations had only been open for a few hours a week. In Monmouthshire,  Monmouth and Chepstow police stations are also now open to the public from 9am to 5pm, five days a week. Initially the station front counters will be staffed by community support officers (CSOs) until Gwent Police recruit station enquiry officers (SEOs). Front counter services are to be reviewed after 12 months and levels of us will also be monitoured. I for one, hope that this bold step works out, and some of our communities can retain their (open) police stations.

AN OPENLY PARTISAN APPROACH?

The longer the row goes on and on about the departure of the former Gwent Chief Constable the more convinced I am that this is mostly the Labour Party in Gwent having a pop at the PCC because he happens not to be their man. I am sure that if the Labour candidate had got elected and a simular train of events had taken place that we would not have heard a peep form Labour’s motley crew of backbench usual suspects who are occasionally, when not cluttering up the Westminster backbenches, found loitering here in Gwent. 

BATTERED AND BLUE?

No one at work should run the risk of being assaulted - yet judging by the amount of working days lost due to assault related injury our Police officers run that risk pretty regularly. Research by BBC Wales has revealed that 1,735 working days were lost over three years at three of the four Welsh Police forces as a result of assaults on officers, suggest that our police officers are well and truly in the firing line. 

The BBC figures show that as result of assaults on Police some  494 days were lost in Dyfed-Powys over three years, 568 days in Gwent and 673 days in the South Wales force. Along with the temporary loss of officers who were unavailable for duty there was a knock-on financial cost, which the BBC has estimated to be around £189,800.

This is not good news, as our Welsh Police forces are also under continuing pressure to reduce costs, as part of Con Dem Westminster government's public spending review (which began in 2010) which include an intention to reduce or cut central police funding by 20% by 2015. What this means more locally is that collectively the Welsh Police forces will have to make total savings of £ 96 million – which will mean a loss of jobs (amongst both Police officers and support staff) and a reduction in the service offered to the public.  

At least as far as the law is concerned attacking or assaulting a police officer is still seen as an aggravated offence in the eyes of the law, and could carry a custodial sentence of up to six months. Speaking as an ex journalist, who in a previous life spent more than enough time covering Pontypool and Cwmbran magistrates court in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, that was not the case then, and I suspect that it is mostly certainly not the case now.

Now I am not and have never been one of the hang them and flog them brigade (I leave that sort of posturing to lightweight Tories), I and no doubt many people consider it unacceptable when public servants (whether Police Officers, Ambulance service staff and Doctors and Nurses in casualty) are attacked or assaulted while doing their job. What’s needed is a balance be achieved between deterrence and the consequences of an assault and restorative justice?

That said the news that some 10,160 incidents of serious violence were informally dealt with last year (that is almost 12 times the figure from five years ago) has raised more than a few eyebrows. This is apparently contrary to existing Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) guidelines, which recommend that such resolutions should only be used for low-level crime.

The Police it reveals regularly use "community resolutions", which may include an apology or compensation to the victim, instead of prosecutions and cautions, despite ACPO guidelines. Now there are times when for lower level offences the use of "community resolutions" is entirely justified and entirely good sense. What this may suggest is that the criminal justice system is creaking and that any crime statistics produced should be looked at with more than a serious degree of caution if not a serious dose of incredulity.

Now I have had my suspicions about crime statistics (whether UK wide or more local) for a while, I am aware that there is a level of anecdotal dissatisfaction particularly with the police response to what they may perceive as lower level anti social behaviour related crime. The perception rightly or wrongly is that while this type of crime may be less important to our hard pressed police officers it remains important to the residents of various parts of Gwent (and no doubt elsewhere). More than a few times it has been related to me personally that when called they (the Police) just don’t come.

I think that taken as whole our creaking criminal justice system may be reaching the point where it is failing to function, it is nether providing restorative justice or dealing with cranial behaviour, let along providing an adequate degree of protection to public servants going about their work. I think that the sooner criminal justice and policing are devolved to Wales the better, that way we can at least try to ensure that our communities are properly protected and the interests of justice are served.

SIMPLE ACCOUNTABILITY

Last time I checked we had four police forces in Wales: Dyfed-Powys, South Wales, North Wales and Gwent, I say that because with Cameron cost cutting agenda you never know if they will be merged or privatised to cut costs. From November there will be four elected Police Commissioners, nominally this should make Policing democratically accountable to local people but the speed and severity of the cuts and the creation of shared services (some very sensible) means that any new Police Commissioners may not have very much to do or manage.

The concept of elective police commissioners is very American, and may be no bad thing, but, is under the Con Dems little more than window dressing, a token gesture towards responsible and accountable policing. The actual reality is that, even with elected Police Commissioners, the people of Wales have less say over policing in their own communities than people in Jersey, Guernsey, and the inhabitants of the Isle of Man.

In Scotland, policing has always been a devolved function; it is time for it to be devolved here in Wales. Welsh government ministers in Cardiff should have a far greater understanding of local policing needs and the expectations of our communities than some distant political appointee in the Ministry of Justice.

The UK government is rigorously pursuing its ideologically driven public sector cost cutting agenda. They need to drop their proposals to make damaging cuts to our police service which has hitting officers' and support staff's morale hard. Last week we had the sight of tens of thousands of angry off-duty officers marching through London protesting about the cuts and the proposed changes in working practises.

A twenty percent cut to the policing budget will leave our communities and their residents much more vulnerable to crime, and put even further strain on our remaining police officers who already carry out difficult jobs, and the changes proposed by the Winsor Review will only make things worse.

At the end of the day, regardless of the reluctance of the current Welsh Government in Cardiff to do anything, the Welsh people have a fundamental democratic right to have a greater say in something so fundamental to civilised community life as policing. Policing is only one side of the coin, to make devolved policing work, there is also a need to devolve control of criminal justice.

I am convinced more than ever that now is the time is right to hold an open debate on devolving policing powers to the Welsh Government in Cardiff. Devolving policing powers would increase the accountability of the Welsh Government, strengthen the democratic process by allowing decisions which directly impact on the Welsh people to be made (and reviewed) here in Wales.

The Con Dem cuts may shape policing and set the policing agenda here in Wales for the next twenty years. Fundamentally policing decisions in Wales need to reflect the needs and concerns of our communities, not the cost cutting agenda of the current Home Secretary and the Ministry of Criminal Justice in London.

CUTS AND CONSEQUENCES

Gwent Police and South Wales Police forces have merged their forensics operations in a bid to save £1 million in public money, at a time when both forces are facing serious budget cuts, this is a sensible decision. The Westminster government announced a 20% cut in police budgets back in October 2010.

Gwent Police has to make some £34 million pounds worth of budget cuts (savings), and South Wales Police has to achieve some £47 million pounds worth of budget savings (cuts) by 2016. The new Joint Scientific Investigation Unit, which will be made up of staff from both forces, will employ 160 staff - 110 from South Wales Police and 50 from Gwent. The fact that no redundancies have been made in either force in creating the unit, should also be welcomed.

Our Police services are facing, much like the rest of us, difficult times financially, Gwent Police is planning to close 17 stations to the public as part of cost-cutting measure, changes which would save around £500,000. Despite the spin and the talk of ‘redesigning the way people accessed its services’, when the dust settles a cut is still and cut and a closure is still a closure. What this means is that from July front counter services won’t be available at:

• Abertillery
• Alway
• Bargoed
• Bedwas
• Bettws
• Brynmawr
• Caerphilly
• Caldicot
• Chepstow
• Rhymney
• Risca
• Maindee
• Monmouth
• Pill
• Pontypool
• Tredegar
• Ystrad Mynach

Gwent Police will retain the Police stations as bases for police officers, specialist departments or office accommodation. Newport’s Central Police station will remain open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Police Stations at Abergavenny, Ebbw Vale, Cwmbran and Blackwood will also remain open to the public from 08:00 to 20:00 GMT, seven days a week. Similar cost cutting measures are being undertaken by South Wales Police and North Wales Police forces.

The Police budget cuts have already lead to a reduction in Police numbers in Wales and England. There were 135,838 police officers in September 2011 - 6,012 (4.2%) fewer than the 141,850 of a year earlier. Only Surrey Police out of the 43 forces in England and Wales actually increased police officer numbers. The figures also show that police numbers have been cut further in Wales and England than they have been in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

One possibly unforeseen consequence of Police budget cuts may be a boost to the Conservative privatisation agenda – G4S a private security company has signed a deal to design, build and run a police station in Lincolnshire. This agreement between G4S and Lincolnshire Police is first of its kind in the UK. As part of the deal, around two-thirds of civilian support staff employed by the force are to be transferred across to the private sector. This contract may will save Lincolnshire Constabulary around £20 million pounds but we may well ask at what cost over the medium term to support staff terms and condition and the provision of services to the public.

While this is probably a step too far for most people, until Policing and Criminal Justice are devolved to the National Assembly. Despite any mutterings to the contrary from Labour in Wales’s elected representatives in Westminster our Police forces here in Wales are in my opinion acutely vulnerable to back door privatisation and further cuts in services. The sooner Policing and Criminal Justice are devolved the better for all of us here in Wales.

A WAFER THIN BLUE LINE?

At the moment, despite Teresa May (who may actually turn out to be a worse Home Secretary that Michael Howard) there are some 136,000 officers spread across the 43 forces in England and Wales. These figures for the number of police officers in England and Wales record a fall of 6,000 over the past year, as public spending cuts have bitten deep. Interestingly enough if you want to play the numbers game this fall takes us back to where we were (in numbers at least) back in 2002.

The last New Labour government learning a lesson from Mrs Thatcher (that seems to have escaped the current Con Dem Government) spent more money and employed more Police Officers and Civilian Support Staff to make services better and to buy their acquiescence. The Tory right believes that New Labour only made them more inefficient and that what with the constraints on public sector spending they believe that new ways of policing need to be explored, and that cutting substantially the back office staffing will reduce paperwork and red tape.

This is a right wing fantasy that has little basis in reality, which shows how cut off from reality they are closeted away in their own little world.  To this end, the Con Dem’s have decided that there will be elective police and crime commissioners. They justify this be suggesting its part of a value for money agenda that will protect front-line services. As for value for money, back in September 2011, the Westminster government postponed the elections for Police Commissioners from May to November of 2012.

Somewhat ironically this decision has pushed up the costs of the implementation process by around £25m to a total of £75m. The Westminster Home Affairs Committee was told last September that the £25m additional cost of staging the elections in November would not come out of the existing police budgets and the Home Office was in discussions with the Treasury about where the money would come from.

The Con Dem’s road to elected Police Commissioners in England (and Wales) which are being brought in as part of the Police and Social Responsibility Bill, has been a pretty rocky one. The plans were rejected once by the House of Lords (in May 2011), and rejected by the National Assembly (in Cardiff) who chose not to pass a Legislative Compliance Motion (LCM) , even the Association of Chief Police Officers have expressed their concerns.

As to what an elected Gwent Police Commissioner will be able to accomplish is pretty much open to question. Gwent Police are now engaged in some serious belt tightening as the force comes to terms with seriously reduced funding. Retaining Police Officers (on and off the beat) and civilian support staff has to be the bottom line.

Once you go down the path of cutting civilian support staff, which some may consider an easier and slightly more acceptable situation than reducing police numbers, there will be real consequences. A reduction in civilian support staff numbers will lead to a reduction in the availability of operational police officers, which will have consequences for all of us.

Policing, like everything else is driven by funding - this is the reality of modern (and old time) policing, our hard pressed Police Service (whether in Gwent, South Wales, Dyfed-Powys or North Wales) all need additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers. On top of that our Police Officers actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

Lets be honest there is absolutely no reason why we should not be more creative when it comes to the ‘how are Communities are policed'. Certainly a more flexible approach to shift patterns to tackle periods when higher levels of criminal offences actually take place are higher is worth exploring and may pay dividends.

We need to actually respond to local communities concerns rather than those of Ministry of Justice's (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets. We need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core and periphery because the end result is that some of our communities will lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources.

If we are really serious about reforming and reorganising our Police then we need to develop a coherent national community safety strategy with a clear approach to tackling crime and the fear of crime in our communities. And be prepared to ask and answer hard questions: do we want two tier Policing? Should Policing targets be generated by local Police officers and local communities?

And where are we going to find the money to do this because Policing is not cheap? At one level if we want to solve, curb or reduce crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the National Assembly.

Oddly enough in Scotland where they already control their own Policing (and have done since 1945) we have not had any of this nonsense. Perhaps this is because the Scot's competently manage their own Police, I don't for a moment believe that we in Wales are less capable than the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland?

GRIM STATISTICS

There are times when the South Wales Argus justifiably draws our attention to some pretty grim statistics - today is one of those days. The figures for Domestic abuse / violence in Gwent have been released and they make pretty grim reading. News that more than 16,000 cases of domestic abuse / violence have been reported to Gwent Police in the last two years should shock us, we should also spare a thought for those cases that are not being reported and recorded.

Gwent Police figures (according to the South Wales Argus) show that there were 8,659 incidents (2,215 of which involved violence) reported in 2009/10 and 8,093 incidents (2,631 of which involved violence) of domestic abuse reported in 2010/11. The first all Wales domestic abuse conference took place last week in Cardiff (hosted by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Gwent Police) as Police forces across Wales are looking at ways of protecting repeat victims of domestic abuse and encouraging the reporting of domestic abuse, at a time when they face reductions in their budgets.

While the way in which our Police Forces deal with domestic violence /abuse has improved greatly over the years, but, there is still room for improvement.The South Wales Argus raises an interesting point, perhaps it is time for a register of domestic abusers to be established, so that the repeat perpetrators of domestic abuse who come to notice can be monitored and tracked.

This is something that the Association of Chief Police Officers have been suggesting for some years, back in November 2009 they suggested that:

• Persons at risk of violence have the ‘right to know’ about relevant information;
  
• consideration of a new criminal offence whereby a prosecution may be brought on the basis of evidence of repeated violent behaviour (known as a ‘Course of Conduct’) against different victims of violence; and
  
• that the law should be changed to enable the police to issue a Domestic Violence Protection Order of up to 14 days duration, to prevent a suspected perpetrator of this form of violence from entering the address of the victim and/or to prevent contact with the victim.

This may help provide a basic level of protection for those who suffer domestic abuse / violence. Some Police Forces in the 1990's as I recall from a previous life actively looked at ways to remove the onus of prosecution away from the victim, something that would help to flag up repeat offenders. In my previous employment I saw the tragic consequences, that could (and can still) result from the situation where the victims of domestic abuse have been too terrified to take the step of co-operating with the Police and prosecuting authorities.

Victims of domestic abuse come form all levels of society, there is no stereotypical victim, and victims all deserve equal and easy access to justice and protection from abuse. Further progress must be made to take the onus of prosecution away from the victims of domestic abuse, while at the same time ensuring that victims and their children get the fullest levels of protection, safety and security from their abusers.

THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST

The questionable savings that may be made by the closure of local police stations in Gwent can only ever be short term and are a symptom of a bigger problem. Policing, like everything else is driven by funding - this is the reality of modern policing, cash strapped Gwent Police needs additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers.

Closing local police stations (Castleton, Duffyrn, Llanhilleth, Llanmartin and Rassau have been named by The South Wales Argus as to being at risk) might save some pounds but will not help our Police Officers who actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

Once you go down the line of cutting civilian support staff, which some may consider an easier and slightly more acceptable situation than reducing police numbers, there will be serious consequences. The retention of police Officers (on and off the beat) and civilian support staff should be the bottom line. A reduction in civilian support staff numbers will inevitably lead to a reduction in the availability of operational police officers, which will have consequences for all of us.

Gwent Police are up against it what with possible cuts of more than £24 million over the next four years. This is a direct consequence of the Con Dem Westminster government's recent comprehensive spending review, which as everyone knows has seriously slashed public spending across the board. Gwent Police are going to be busy with a serious bout of belt tightening as the force comes to terms with seriously reduced funding.

A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) sets out for the first time a definition of what constitutes front-line policing, amid a growing political debate about how chief constables should make cuts. HMIC's definition says that front-line policing is those who are "in everyday contact with the public and who directly intervene to keep people safe and enforce the law".

The report found that 68% of all police force staff in England and Wales were in such roles, but not all were visible. The HMIC estimates that 61% of police officers and community support officers work in visible front-line positions and that 12% of them are available at any given time.

There may be a shortage of money, although as has been noted the UK Government was pretty quick to find the reserves to bail out the banks (bonuses and all) and can always seem to find the money to fund in this case the UN approved (and therefore legal) military action in Libya (UN approved and legal - that makes a pleasant change from the days of Blair).

Now there is absolutely no reason why we cannot be far more creative when it comes to how are Communities are policed. Lets certainly look at a more flexible approach to shift patterns to tackle those periods of the day when higher levels of criminal offences take place and need to actually respond to local communities real concerns rather than the Ministry of Justice's (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets.

We certainly need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core or periphery because the end result is that some of our our communities will lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources. One key thing to remember is that if you are going to spend public money then make sure that you work it hard.

Another thing to remember here is accountability, those who spend public money need to be properly accountable to the public. Mr's Thatcher severely weakened the democratic element in the old Police Authorities, following the proposed Tory model of elected Police Chief is not really an option.

So if we want to solve, curb or reduce crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the Welsh Government, are we less capable than the people of Northern Ireland, or the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland?

THE THIN BLUE LINE?

An independent review of police pay and conditions in England and Wales (undertaken by the former rail regulator Tom Winsor) has called for the abolition of a series of allowances and special payments. This may mean that Police Officers on front-line duties might see their pay rise but 40% may well lose out. The review has called for an end to the £1,212 competence-related threshold payment, the Special Priority Payment of up to £5,000 and says no officers should move up the pay scale for two years.

The review has also suggested suspending chief officer and superintendent bonuses. It notes that police earn 10 to 15% more than other emergency workers and the armed forces and in some areas such as Wales and the North East they are paid up to 60% more than average local earnings. The review suggests that only officers working unsocial hours should be paid for doing so, with those working between 2000 and 0600 getting an extra 10% on their basic hourly pay.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has said that the Westminster Government cuts could lead to the loss of 28,000 officer and civilian staff jobs over the next four years. The Con Dem Government is preparing to reduce funding for the police by 20% by 2014-15.Currently 43 Police forces in England and Wales employ about 244,000 people, with 143,000 police officers and 101,000 civilian support staff. ACPO has predicted the loss of 12,000 police officers and 16,000 civilian staff as a result of spending cuts.

We already know that Gwent Police are to face cuts (potentially more than £24 million) over the next four years is not good news. This is a direct consequence of the Con Dem Westminster government's recent comprehensive spending review, which as everyone knows has seriously slashed public spending across the board. Gwent Police are now going to be engaged in a prolonged and serious bout of belt tightening as the force comes to terms with seriously reduced funding.

The retention of Police Officers (on and off the beat) and civilian support staff should be the bottom line. Once you go down the line of cutting civilian support staff, which some may consider an easier and slightly more acceptable situation than reducing police numbers, there will be consequences. A reduction in civilian support staff numbers will inevitably lead to a reduction in the availability of operational police officers, which will have consequences for all of us.

Policing, just like everything else is driven by funding - this is the reality of modern (and old time) policing, our hard pressed Police Service (whether in Gwent, South Wales, Dyfed-Powys or North Wales) all need additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers. On top of that our Police Officers actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

There is absolutely no reason why we cannot be far more creative when it comes to how are Communities are policed. We certainly need a more flexible approach to shift patterns to tackle those periods of the day when higher levels of criminal offences take place and need to actually respond to local communities real concerns rather than the Ministry of Justice's (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets. We need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core and periphery because the end result is that some of our our communities will lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources.

If we want to solve, curb or reduce crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the National Assembly, much of this already happens in Scotland, are we less capable than the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland? - I don't think so!

GWENT POLICE BUDGET CUTS

News that Gwent Police are to face cuts of more than £24 million over the next four years is not good news. this is a direct consequence of the Con Dem Westminster government's recent comprehensive spending review, which as everyone knows has seriously slashed public spending across the board. Gwent Police are now going to be engaged in a prolonged bout of belt tightening as the force comes to terms with seriously reduced funding.

The South Wales Argus (27.01.2011), notes that Gwent Police will announce its budget plans on the 9th February, when some of the detail as to how the force will cut some £3 million in 2011/12 on top of potential savings of £7.6 million made in 2010/11. The budget for 2010/11 was set at £121.616 million. The Argus also notes that the outgoing Chief Constable Mick Giannasi stated that officer numbers would not be cut during this financial year. Gwent Police Authority members were told that while the official figure is £22 million, the force has to allow ten percent cushion for any alterations in costs so in reality the figure is £24.6 million.

Retention of police Officers, on and off the beat, and civilian support staff should be the bottom line. Once you go down the line of cutting civilian support staff, which some may consider an easier and slightly more acceptable situation than reducing police numbers, there will be consequences. A reduction in civilian support staff numbers will inevitably lead to a reduction in the availability of operational police officers, which will have consequences for all of us.

Policing, just like everything else is driven by funding - this is the reality of modern (and old time) policing, our hard pressed Police Service (whether in Gwent, South Wales, Dyfed-Powys or North Wales) all need additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers. On top of that our Police Officers actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

Now there is absolutely no reason why we cannot be far more creative when it comes to how are Communities are policed. We certainly need a more flexible approach to shift patterns to tackle those periods of the day when higher levels of criminal offences take place and need to actually respond to local communities real concerns rather than the Ministry of Justice's (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets.

We need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core or periphery because the end result is that some of our our communities will lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources. If we want to curb crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the National Assembly, much of this already happens in Scotland, are we less capable than the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland? - I think not!

HOW THIN CAN THE CONDEMS MAKE THE BLUE LINE?

News that Police forces in England and Wales are to face cuts in central funding in the next two years of 4% then 5%, is not good news. The ConDem government has announced that Central funding will fall to £9.3bn in 2011-12, then £8.8bn the following year. The ConDem's Policing minister Nick Herbert has said that the cuts would be "challenging" and that the savings were possible "while protecting the front-line" police services. There will be separate funds for counter-terrorism, and until 2013 for neighbourhood policing. It is worth noting that the news that policing grants in Wales and England are to be slashed has been released while the ConDem Government is pushing ahead with its plans to fund elected Police Commissioners something that will cost the public purse some of £50million - so much for saving money. Only last week the Association of Police Authorities said that imposing the deepest cuts in the first two years will make it hard to protect front-line services. I suspect that the public will be the judge of that...

Plaid Cymru’s Elfyn Llwyd MP , a member of the House of Commons Justice Committee, said:

Plaid Cymru’s Elfyn Llwyd MP

“The cuts announced today to the policing grant in Wales and England will mean cuts to police authorities operational budgets at precisely the time when £50million is being put aside to fund newly elected Police Commissioners – which nobody needs. Police authorities' budgets will be cut dramatically across the board in Wales. Just how exactly the UK government expects to see a fall in crime rates at the same time as slashing the policing budget is beyond me. These cuts are irresponsible and will come in at a time when police authorities will be stretched due to the forced redundancies of the most experienced police officers. I’m concerned that introducing elected Police Commissioners will in any case lead to the politicisation of the police force. It will bare little scrutiny in reality.”

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT?

Whenever the weather is bad, and I find myself in rather than out I usually quietly give thanks to the fact that I am not having the travel along the A4042 - having spent enough time travelling from Pontypool through Mamhilad and Goetre and on to Abergavenny (via Llanelen) in all seasons, all sorts of weathers and at all sorts of hours, I am now pretty familiar with the road, its limitations and its accident black spots.

When heading from north to south from Pontypool, through Mamhilad where the duel carriageway ends, the passing motorist is presented with a number of particularly dangerous accident black spots that regularly take lives and cause serious injury. Gwent Police were absolutely right when they requested that to the Welsh Assembly Government give serious consideration to building a roundabout at the dangerous Little Mill junction.

I have over the years seen the aftermath of far too many accidents on the A4042 at the Little Mill junction. Moving north towards Goetre, the road once you get up the hill, is increasingly windy and on dark nights, in bad weather as well as in good weather quite treacherous, there have been too many bad accidents along this stretch of highway, which carries a significant amount of HGV traffic as well as ordinary motorists. I have seen the Police hard at work in the pouring rain brushing the broken glass of the road too many times, or have been halted by a patrol car with its lights flashing to bring traffic to a halt after yet another bad accident.

As a trainee journalist on the Pontypool Free Press (in the late 1980’s) I can remember the complaints and concerns from residents then and can recall the results of road accidents. However, it's not just the stretch of the road between Pontypool and Goetre that causes problems, I can recall my news desk dealing regularly with regular news stories relating to flooding and accidents at Llanelen Bridge on the A4042 between Pontypool and Abergavenny.

I have personally lost track of the number of times that my journey to and from Abergavenny and the north west of Monmouth constituency have been stopped or diverted by the Police and other emergency services dealing with the consequences of yet another traffic accident. Now this is nothing new, the problems along the road between Little Mill and at Llanelen had been clearly identified when Gwent County Council still existed (and that was pre 1992) and there have been far too many accidents since, over the years - the question is now no so much what will be done as when will something be done, before the grim toll of accidents is added too.

Further north the area around Llanelen Bridge has long been prone to flooding as well as being recognised and well known as a pretty lethal accident black spot; all we have had over the years is talk about sorting out the problems, but, never any action to resolve the problem. We have to ask ourselves; as we approach potentially another season of long dark winter evenings, is how many more lives will be lost or broken before any action is finally taken? For how much longer must we put up with inaction before anything is actually done to solve the problem and save lives?

The increasingly inadequate A4042, which might once (if we were lucky) have benefited from some minor improvements, is going to fall way down the list of spending priorities (if it is even on the list) as the UK Government is in the process of looking to make significant savings to its capital expenditure programme which will be passed in due turn down the line to the National Assembly in Cardiff and on to our local authorities.

There are no quick fixes, and no easy answers, one thing that seriously needs to be done is to get road freight back onto rail and off our roads, far too much freight is being moved long distances by HGV's along roads which are entirely unsuitable for such volumes of traffic. This is one lasting side effect of the wholesale butchery of our rail network in the 1950's and 1960's - fifty years ago the communities that now lie along the A4042 (and elsewhere in Wales) were reasonably well served or had reasonable access to the rail network with railway stations at Little Mill, Nant-y-derry and Pen-pergwm - no long gone.

Now the privatised rail passenger carrying companies pursue maximising their profits at our expense in exchange of regular fat payments to the UK Government and the provision of an increasingly disjointed and increasingly minimalist service to boot. Little in relation to this changed during the thirteen years of New Labour Government and in relation to the Con Dem's we had better brace ourselves of even less change and little improvement when it comes to provision of a decent rail service.

Now not being naive I fully expect a degree of indifference from a distant Westminster and Whitehall, but, I and many other people expect our politicians in Cardiff to take a different view, even with the National Assembly's relatively limited powers and its soon to be reduced budget. We can do better, we have to do better here in Wales, because no one else will, no one else will care or even try. Ironically, if Government in both London and Cardiff was really serious about cutting carbon emissions and seriously reducing road congestion then there would be far more emphasis on getting heavy goods back onto our railways.

Now lets be honest this is not a quick fix and it may not be cheap but it can be done if the political will is there, as has happened in Scotland,but, sadly it appears to be lacking south of the border, which is something that has to change over the next few years. Even with limited resources and limited powers we in Wales should be able to make a real and lasting difference to our communities - if our elected politicians at all levels are there to merely fill the seats and are not prepared to try then its time to replace them with people who will serve and help their communities rather than serve and help themselves.

THINNING OUT THE BLUE LINE

As the public sector cuts begin to bite we may find ourselves in wholly new territory, as a largely Conservative (+ associate rag tag Lib Dems hangers on) seriously considers cutting Police (both uniformed and civilian support staff) numbers whilst we are dealing with the effects of the recession – this is something even Mrs Thatcher (in her more lucid moments well before she went mad towards the end of her tenure as PM) never even considered doing for a moment.

Mr’s T in the early days of her premiership raise Police pay (and improved conditions) – something which won her a combination of tacit approval, tacit support or a degree of active passivity from the Police service, which had been neglected under the previous struggling Labour Government – during who's tenure in office there had been an erosion of police pay and working conditions.

Faced with paying for New Labour’s reckless spending, the ongoing financial legacy of Blair's wars, bailing out the banks, replacing Trident (an essential prop of Britain is to stride the world stage clinging on to the pretensions of being a World power), etc - the new Government finds itself skint.  David (“Call me Dave”) Cameron's Con Dem Government may well have reached its budgetary Rubicon moment - To cut or not to cut and how deep? Are we seriously talking about reducing Police numbers and cutting back on operational policing and the myriad of police support workers who fulfil a hundred routine (and not so routine) tasks behind the front line?

Perhaps, certainly it is quite likely that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) conference in Manchester will (BBC and Daily Telegraph) have been told by the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers Sir Hugh Orde will (by the time this blog is published) that current police numbers are unsustainable in the face of cuts and that it is "misleading in the extreme" to claim anything otherwise. Only last week the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson went so far as to suggest that his force would "shrink" as a result of budget cuts and has talked about growing the number of special constables to make up the numbers.

So where exactly does that leave Policing in Wales, which is substantially somewhat down the Ministry of Justice / Home Office food chain of funding priorities, of late Police Services in Wales have been ‘publicly making the best out of a potentially bad situation. In the wake of the proposed ‘savage’ public service funding cuts the real question is where exactly does that leave front line policing within our more vulnerable and not so vulnerable communities.

Within the Gwent Police Service area, Plaid Cymru’s Steffan Lewis (the then Islwyn Westminster Parliamentary candidate) expertly exposed Gwent Police’s proposals to close local Police stations (many of whom have pretty reduced operating hours to start with) rattled more than a few bars locally across Gwent gaining coverage in both the South Wales Argus and the Western Mail. Quite understandably local residents were less than chuffed when they foresaw the consequences of the loss of local police stations.

So, anyway as no doubt we will be faced by broad and deep cuts in public expenditure the question is where do we or at least our Police Services go from here? A cut is a cut, no matter how you spin it, and for sure Cameron's Tories (and their hangers on) have inherited former spin master Blair's well oiled machine – so be prepared for lots of it - to distract the eye and the wallet with slight of hand as our public services get cut to the bone (so much for ‘New Tories'). 

The bottom line is that decision making when it comes to Criminal Justice and Policing (for they are two sides of the same coin), how its funded and how the money is spent should be made locally in Cardiff rather than in Westminster and Whitehall where any understanding of policing needed on the ground locally and local problems will be somewhat understandably dim and distant from any consequences on the streets of our communities.

THE THIN BLUE LINE...

A measure of understanding on the attitude from the new Government towards our Police forces may be gleaned from the proposed cuts that have been announced by Nick Herbert (Policing and Criminal Justice Minister ) as part of a UK-wide cut of £125m in funding for forces. South Wales Police faces cuts of £2.8m, North Wales Police faces cuts of £1.4m, while Gwent Police faces cuts of £1.3m and Dyfed-Powys Police cuts of around £900,000. The cuts in funding for 2010/2011 have been announced as part of efforts to help reduce the UK's budget deficit

During the final stages of the last Westminster Election Campaign, everyone (and every political party) was heard calling ever loudly for more Police Officers on the beat which happened to be something which most people wanted to see. Now if you are lucky and get a quiet moment and you use it to ask any senior Police officer about beat policing, then especially in a guarded quiet moment and you may get told that it's probably one of the most inefficient form of Policing going, with officers walking for (on average) something like 49 miles before they come across a crime in progress.

Now while this may be true, it obviously ignores the deterrence and reassurance that is generated on our streets and in our communities and may well be influenced by pressures from the Ministry of Justice, a lack of Police officers and the need to generate reams and reams of arrest related statistics. Maybe this is driven by a desire for local bobbies on the beat that goes back to an earlier simpler era, maybe it’s TV inspired nostalgia driven desire for that mythical Dixon of Dock Green / Heartbeat figure which has now almost become a real historical memory – until killed off by successive police reorganisations, force mergers, budget cuts and top down largely then Home Office driven changes in the way our communities are policed i.e. panda cars, the loss of local Police stations, reduced opening hours, etc.

Now nostalgia and Policing are a particularly heady and dangerous mix, I can personally recall Conservative politicians in the 1990's who argued against the use of body armour, stab vests and side handled batons, pepper sprays, etc – saying that it would change the nature of Policing, create unbreakable barriers of hostility between the public and the Police, end tradition, etc. All that aside, one thing all of those things did was significantly reduce the number of Police Officers stabbed and killed in line of their duty – so enough with the nostalgia.

When it comes dealing with crime and effects of crime on our communities we really have to get past the usual meaningless platitudes about being tough on crime, etc. Certainly in the final weeks of the Westminster campaign the voters heard plenty of them what with the various London based parties making much out of how they were going to get serious about cutting crime, reducing anti social behaviour, and making our communities safer. Now that the dust had settled, then we shall all get a measure of the new government and see how they act as the empty rhetoric fades away.

Cuts, are not the answer, for unless we will actually seriously invest in the Welsh Police Services and make more creative use of existing financial and manpower resources. We could begin to make our communities safer by making more use of Community Support Officers, but without full powers of arrest, and lacking in proper training this can be nothing more than a temporary short term solution, what we need are more Police Officers.

Policing, just like everything else is driven by funding - this is the reality of modern (and old time) policing, our hard pressed Police Service (whether in Gwent, South Wales, Dyfed-Powys or North Wales) all need additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers. On top of that our Police Officers actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

We need a more flexible approach to shift patterns to tackle those periods of the day when higher levels of criminal offences take place and need to actually respond to local communities real concerns rather than the Ministry of Justice's (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets. We need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core or periphery because the end result is that some of our our communities will lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources.

The fact that the Ministry of Justice (and lets be honest changing the name has not fixed the basic problem) has long lost the plot and has become bogged down in a morass of spin, number crunching, paperwork, bureaucracy and red tape; add to the fact that it largely exists in an unreal world far removed from the realities of day-to-day policing on streets of Abergavenny, Caldicot, Cwmbran, Newport, Underwood or Tredegar, let alone Llanbedr Pont Steffan (especially on a Saturday night at chucking out time).

If we are really serious about reforming and reorganising Policing then we need to develop a coherent national community safety strategy for Wales with a clear approach to tackling crime and the fear of crime in our communities. And ask and answer the hard questions: do we want two tier Policing? Should Policing target be generated by local Police officers and local communities, where are we going to find the money, because Policing is not cheap?

If we want to solve or curb crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the National Assembly, much of this already happens in Scotland, are we less capable than the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland? - I think not!

POLICING CUTS

News that Wales' four police authorities are to have their budgets cut by a total of £6.4m this year is not good news. The cuts have been announced by Nick Herbert (Policing and Criminal Justice Minister ) as part of a UK-wide cut of £125m in funding for forces. South Wales Police faces cuts of £2.8m, North Wales Police faces cuts of £1.4m, while Gwent Police faces cuts of £1.3m and Dyfed-Powys Police cuts of around £900,000.

The cuts in funding for 2010/2011 have been announced as part of efforts to help reduce the UK's budget deficit. Last year (June 2009) there were proposed reductions in the number of Police stations and threats to reduce services. Heaven knows where these cuts will fall and what price will be paid when it comes to providing law and order and front-line policing in our communities. 

The bottom line is that while there should always be room for cost saving, but, not at the price of important front-line Policing services and Police Stations which need to be staffed and maintained. One question that needs to be asked is that if Policing was devolved to Cardiff, would our Police Forces and our communities be facing cuts on this scale or would we be able to do things differently?

EVENING ALL!

As we enter the final stages of the current Westminster Election Campaign, everyone (and every political party) will be heard over the next few weeks calling ever loudly for more Police Officers on the beat, something which most people want to see. Now ask any senior Police officer in a guarded quiet moment and you may get told that it's the most inefficient form of Policing going, with officers walking for (on average) something like 49 miles before they come across a crime in progress. This may be true, but, obviously ignores the deterrence and reassurance that is generated on our streets and in our communities and may well be influenced by pressures from the Ministry of Justice, a lack of Police officers and the need to generate reams and reams of arrest related statistics.

Perhaps the desire for local bobbies on the beat goes back to an earlier simpler era (certainly UKIP would like to take us back to the day before the Suez crisis broke, if only to urge Antony Eden to press on), maybe it’s a TV inspired nostalgia driven desire for that mythical Dixon of Dock Green figure now almost a real historical memory – killed off by successive police reorganisations, force mergers, budget cuts and top down largely then Home Office driven changes in the way our communities are policed i.e. panda cars, the loss of local Police stations, reduced opening hours, etc.

Now, lets be brutally honest nostalgia and Policing are a dangerous heady mix, there were Conservative politicians in the 1990's who argued against the use of body armour, stab vests and side handled batons, pepper sprays, etc – saying that it would change the nature of Policing, create unbreakable barriers of hostility between the public and the Police, end tradition, etc. All that aside, one thing all of those things did was significantly reduce the number of Police Officers stabbed and killed in line of their duty – so enough with the nostalgia.

We have to get past the meaningless platitudes about being tough on crime, etc. During the final weeks of the Westminster campaign the voters will hear much about getting serious about cutting crime, reducing anti social behaviour, and making our communities safer – now that’s all very fine, but just empty rhetoric unless we will actually seriously invest in the Welsh Police Services and make more creative use of existing financial and manpower resources. We could begin to make our communities safer by making more use of Community Support Officers, but without full powers of arrest, and lacking in proper training this can be nothing more than a temporary short term solution, what we need are more Police Officers.

The reality of modern (and old time policing) is that funding drives everything, our hard pressed Police Service (whether in Gwent, South Wales, Dyfed-Powys or North Wales) all need additional funding and an increase in the number of serving officers. On top of that our Police Officers actively need the active support of our communities, especially if we are seriously going to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour and to ensure proper Policing within our communities.

We also need to develop a much more flexible approach to shift patterns so we can tackle those periods of the day when higher levels of criminal offences take place and actually responding to local communities’ real concerns rather than the Ministry of Justice’s (formerly the Home Office) perceived priorities and targets. There is a need to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to basing Policing strategies on core or periphery because the end result is that some of our communities lose out when it comes to access to Police services and resources.

The fact that the Ministry of Justice (and honestly changing the name has not fixed the basic problem) has long lost the plot and has become bogged down in a morass of spin, number crunching, paperwork, bureaucracy and red tape; add to the fact that it largely exists in an unreal world far removed from the realities of day-to-day policing on streets of Abergavenny, Caldicot, Cwmbran, Newport, Underwood or Tredegar, let alone Llanbedr Pont Steffan (especially on a Saturday night at chucking out time).

If we are really serious about reforming and reorganising Policing then we need to develop a coherent national community safety strategy for Wales with a clear approach to tackling crime and the fear of crime in our communities. And ask and answer the hard questions: do we want two tier Policing? Should Policing target be generated by local Police officers and local communities, where are we going to find the money, because Policing is not cheap? If we want to solve or curb crime in Wales, then it makes sense for the control of Policing as well as Justice and Prisons within Wales to be fully devolved to the National Assembly, much of this already happens in Scotland, are we less capable than the Scots or less of a nation than Scotland? - I think not!

And by way of a final thought it is worth remembering that the Dixon of Dock Green (in the original film "The Blue Lamp") was shot dead during a robbery...

REAL POLICING PLEDGE

I am more than happy to pledge my support to the campaign and keep constables at the heart of the communities they serve. For at the heart of modern day policing sits the vital Office of Constable, a fully trained and warranted police constable is able to deal with a wide range of diverse duties, from statement taking, crowd control and first aid. This is why I have supported the Real Policing Pledge Campaign (http://www.realpolicingpledge.co.uk) which has been organised by the Constables’ Central Committee. Policing on the cheap will never work, the price for any cuts or reduction in our Police service will be paid by both our communities and our Police officers.

The Real Policing Pledge:

• Uphold the office of constable as the bedrock of modern policing
• Maintain the number of warranted police constables in England and Wales
• Ensure that all constables are adequately trained to do their jobs
• Commit to maintain an effective ratio of police constables to support staff on community policing teams
• Honour the Police Negotiating Board (PNB)
  

Our Police officers are duty bound to protect life and property and can be called into service 24 hours a day 365 days a year. While their civilian community support officers, civilian investigators and detention officers make a vital contribution, they are unable to have as much impact as a regular warranted police constable, which is why our police officers need our continued support. We need more Police Officers, who are properly trained, properly funded, properly supported and out on the beat in the heart of our communities not wading through paperwork and administrative tasks.

THE A4042 - TO HIGH A TOLL?

Having spent enough time travelling on the A4042 from Pontypool through Mamhilad and Goetre and on to Abergavenny (via Llanelen) in all seasons, all sorts of weathers and at all sorts of hours, I think that Gwent Police have got it spot on with their request to the Welsh Assembly Government to give further consideration to building a roundabout at the dangerous Little Mill junction. I have over the years seen the aftermath of far too many accidents on the A4042 at the Little Mill junction and elsewhere along the road.

As a trainee journalist (on the Pontypool Free Press) in the 1980’s I can recall the complaints from residents then and can recall the results of road accidents. Now it's not just the stretch of the road between Pontypool and Goetre, I can recall my news desk dealing regularly with stories relating to flooding and accidents at Llanelen Bridge on the A4042 between Pontypool and Abergavenny. I have lost track of the number of times that my journey to and from Abergavenny and the north west of the constituency have been stopped by the Police and other emergency services dealing with the consequences of yet another traffic accident.

The problems along the road between Little Mill and at Llanelen had been clearly identified when Gwent County Council still existed (and that was pre 1992) and there have been far too many accidents since, over the years - the question is now no so much what will be done as when will something be done, before the grim toll of accidents is added too.

The area around Llanelen Bridge has long been prone to flooding as well as being recognised and well known as a lethal accident black spot; over the years all we have had is talk about sorting out the problems, but, never any action to resolve the problem. We have to ask ourselves; as we face yet another season of long dark winter evenings, how many more lives will be lost before any action is finally taken? For how much longer must we put up with inaction before anything is actually done to solve the problem and save lives?

GWENT POLICE STATION CLOSURES

The news that a number of Police stations in Gwent could be closed by the end of March 2012; under the Police Authority’s “reprovision programme” which is under consideration by the police authority is shocking and may prove to be unacceptable to most reasonably minded people.

Equally unacceptable is the ludicrous suggestion, which proposes the replacement of the Police Stations in Caldicot, Usk and Monmouth with ‘mobile’ police stations. This is, I suspect a clear case of Gwent Police and Gwent Police Authority dancing to a Ministry of Justice budget reducing tune.

The people of Gwent are already receiving a patchy service in places, with some Police stations only being open for limited hours during the day. Such a proposal is ludicrous - people need to feel secure in their communities and closing these Police stations will not help at all - far from it , it will merely send the wrong message.

This will not help the fight against crime and is a very short-term short sighted decision that the people of Gwent and Gwent Police Authority may come to regret sooner rather than later.

ON THE BEAT OR NOT?

You would have to try hard to come across a more desperate tragic tale than that of the mother driven by bullies to kill herself and her daughter in a burning car? A tragic situation made far worse by what may well appear to be an absolute abject failure on the part of the police to protect a vulnerable family despite repeated regular pleas for help. The local constabulary were allegedly contacted more than 20 times over a seven-year period but allegedly failed to respond because due to a there being "not enough resources".

What has emerged is that little or nothing was done to protect the victim or her family from persistent bullying and persistent abuse. Local Police have said that the mother was concerned about reprisals and so did not want to pursue any prosecutions. At the ongoing inquest (in Loughborough), an officer allegedly said it was impossible to bring charges if the victim did not wish to proceed. Yet as the coroner noted, there are supposed to be a dozen laws to deal with this sort of behaviour.

So if the mother herself did not wish to give evidence, were the police capable of basic observation? Obviously not, as little allegedly seems to have been done save to ignore or dismiss the victims concerns? And there we are mistakenly thinking that it was one of the duties of the Police to protect the vulnerable – obviously not? At least, for all the good it did in this case, they actually allegedly turned up (some of the time) in too many of our communities I have heard people say that when they call them (The Police that is) they don’t even come?

How did we end up in this mess?

The biggest transformation is a relatively recent one; that of increased centralisation and a breakdown of the basic relationship between the local community and the Police Service. Since 1979, the Police have become a far more visible enforcement arm of the state (perhaps as a direct consequence of the Miner’s strike and Poll Tax Protests), with centrally set and centrally driven targets.

Additionally part of the fact that many of the police are no longer from the communities they allegedly serve. Not that long ago a percentage, but not all, of our Police lived within our communities, some in Police Houses (which were quietly sold off under Mrs. Thatcher) it’s more as likely now that our Police live somewhere else and commute to work, just like many of us.

Now, while the police have always clung to their operational autonomy and used to claim a nominal resistance to direct political interference, they have become ‘indirectly’ political in ways that people could never have conceived twenty five years ago, before John Major and Tony Blair made increasingly centrally driven ‘politically’ inspired crime campaigns and quick fix initiatives an everyday occurrence.

So much for an independent Police service - the police may periodically bleat on about having ‘operational autonomy’ but in truth those days are long gone. One thing is true; we all pay for our Policing (one way or another) and if the Police fail us then there are usually consequences, particularly tragic ones in this case.

At a very basic level our police need to reconnect with their local communities - the lack of actual open Police stations across Wales, does not help matters much. Gwent Constabulary does pursue a very successful programme of visible community based Policing in many parts of the former county, yet there is a real danger that as our Police Service becomes increasingly specialist it becomes more distant from our communities.

Factor in the not so faint whiff of ongoing Police reorganisation, especially a reorganisation that is potentially cost savings driven after the next Westminster election; and with some senior police officers favouring the creation of larger and larger more strategic Police forces, one question we should ask is what will happen to the Police Service in Wales?

And what will be the direct and indirect consequences on the streets of our communities?

Is it possible to reverse the trend of the of the past 30 years which has seen the development of a style of policing that suits not the public but the Police?