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Policing is all about community issues and familiar faces, says Chief Constable Bettison
For Sir Norman Bettison, policing is a matter of trust. West Yorkshire's Chief Constable tells Joanne Mead what he is doing in Calderdale to earn it
LETTERS praising the work of beat bobbies always make good bedtime reading for the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire.
Looking back on his first two years in the job, Sir Norman Bettison feels some satisfaction. Letters praising his officers now vastly outnumber those which question why nothing is being done.
The chief is the man responsible for taking police out of their patrol cars and putting them back on the streets – a move he feels has paid off both in respect of boosting public confidence and in cutting and detecting crime, not only in Calderdale but across West Yorkshire.
His belief in "local officers for local people" has seen 350 more police officers and 100 more community support officers brought into neighbourhood police teams in the time that he has been at the helm.
"Neighbourhood policing is all about the community, making the issues which matter to local people a priority for local police," he said. "Most importantly it has been about putting a familiar police face in a community so people know who to turn to and trust.
"I know it's working because people write to me and tell me it is, and the crime figures show it is."
Speaking about crime in Calderdale and an apparent rise in violent robberies, Sir Norman said compared with five or six years ago crime was coming down overall. While such crimes did still happen, he said, the number of cases solved and offenders brought to justice had increased greatly.
Robbery figures for Calderdale show there were 101 between April and November last year, compared with 71 the year before.
"What people see is a great big headline every now and then telling us about an incident," he said.
"What happens after that often happens quietly, without much public notice, and so we get this idea that crime is going up. What I can say is we take all crime very seriously."
Sir Norman warned Calderdale residents to do what they could to prevent
becoming a crime victim.
He said: "The stark reality is burglaries are just starting to rise again in Calderdale.
"Even though figures remain relatively low, people need to make their homes burglar-proof.
"It's amazing how many people don't lock their doors and when you consider that one in four burglars simply walk in through the front door. It's quite shocking people don't take common sense steps to prevent it."
One issue which has brought national attention to Calderdale is Tasers.
The division was one of only two in West Yorkshire selected to take part in a Government pilot. It saw 30 beat officers specially trained and issued with Tasers. It was the first time non-firearms officers had used the weapon.
Sir Norman said: "I don't want to conceive of the idea of all officers being armed with Tasers. What I can see is all police cars being equipped with Tasers so that the option is there.
"If officers are called to an incident which they know could be potentially violent or if a non-violent matter suddenly escalates, officers have immediate access to one."
But he said he would only make such a decision if there was support for the idea.
As his second anniversary of his appointment approaches, Sir Norman said he was eager to answer the "what next" question
He revealed that a new Policing Pledge, a set of commitments to the public, would be introduced shortly.
It would see police being at a 999 call incident within 15 minutes and at non-emergency scenes – provided police needed to attend – within one hour. Other non-emergencies would be attended to within 48 hours.
"We are still listening to what people want. They want us to be there quicker, so we will be. We have heard people want more feedback about what has happened in a case and that will happen too.
"It's about listening to what the public want and responding to their needs," he said.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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