‘Policing Pledge’ announced

The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have announced a ‘Policing Pledge’, laying down minimum standards for police officers in England and Wales. The Government also plans to give people a greater say and influence over how their streets are policed. The announcement comes as Mr Brown revealed that the Government had successfully rolled out neighbourhood policing.

The policing pledge will set out a national standard of what people can expect from their neighbourhood policing team. Standards could include:

?Arranging to visit people at a convenient time;

?Regular reporting on the progress of detecting a crime;

?How a victim of crime is treated and supported;

?How and when local crime information is provided to the public.

The Government also pledges to give everyone the opportunity to have a say in how their streets are policed. This will involve communities working with their local neighbourhood policing team to draw up local policing pledges to tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour and drug crime.

The new measures pledged will supplement the work of 3,600 neighbourhood policing teams in place and 16,000 community support officers. Every household will have a dedicated neighbourhood policing team to solve local problems, contactable by phone or through community meetings.

Plans have also been announced by the Home Secretary to reduce central targets for police, freeing them up to spend more time on local priorities and tackling serious crime.

The pledge coincides with the start of new Public Service Agreements which set out the Government’s commitment to focus policing around local priorities. It is set to be introduced later in the year.