The Times today comments on the judgement of Jan Berry, Labour's czar against red tape, on the failure of the police to be enticed out of the comforts of the police station.
It seems that, despite inducements and command, the Police are spending no more time on the beat than they were two years ago. We could have guessed this from the recent announcement of civilians actually employed as detectives!
One of them inducements was the supply of 27,000 portable hand-held computers, to enable officers to record details without having to return to base. (Some have also had helmet-mounted web cams.) It seems that there was a cock-up or mistake in the installation of the correct software. Shades of the supply of military equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan!
The latest decision from on high is to demand that the police patrol alone, instead of in pairs, and also to have centrally supplied uniforms - to save money. It seems that severe cuts are coming?
The central problem has not been removed, - health and safety application and, more especially, the top-down targets which require so many boxes to be ticked, so many forms to be filled in, so many targets to be considered. There has to be a major change in objectives and implementation, and this in turn will require fundamental reform.
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