From
the Neighbourhood to the National
Cumbria Constabulary Chief Constable Craig Mackey said: 'The Government
has published its Green Paper on Policing. We now need to study the green
paper carefully and go through the finer detail. There are some significant
changes proposed, and we need to consider how we ensure that they deliver
the best policing service for the people of Cumbria. The green paper is
at the consultation stage until October and we will be taking an active
role in the debate as the discussion over the paper unfolds.
'Cumbria is a good performing Constabulary with high levels of public
satisfaction and this is very much down to the hard work of our staff
and the support of our communities. Recent figures show that we have the
fourth best detection rate in the country which reinforces our commitment
in bringing offenders to justice. Together with our on-going investment
in neighbourhood policing and CID the Constabulary is in a strong position.
As a region we have been working on collaboration projects for some time
and we look forward to developing these, however, the Constabulary is
not debating mergers, and will not do so unless specifically instructed
by the Government.
Neighbourhood Policing
'The proposals in the green paper are good news for neighbourhood policing.
Cumbria Constabulary is firmly committed to protecting the public and
providing good quality local policing to all our neighbourhoods. In Cumbria
our neighbourhood policing is already carried out to national standards,
and some of our approaches have been recognised nationally as best practise.
However, it is important that we retain the ability to make decisions
locally as no two neighbourhoods are the same.
The Policing Pledge
'The Policing Pledge sets out what the public should expect of their local
police. We look forward to working with the Home Office to refine these
commitments for a large rural force such as ourselves. At the moment,
84% of people who contact us for help are satisfied with the service they
receive, which is 11th out of 43 forces in the country. We want to increase
that figure by giving the public an even better level of service. Working
in a large rural county like Cumbria, we will always need to balance response
times with road safety, and sometimes we have to prioritise responding
to county-wide emergencies like Foot and Mouth disease or severe flooding.
Performance Management
'We welcome any improvements to the current performance culture that will
enable our officers to spend more time on the streets of Cumbria fighting
crime.
'The Green Paper also focuses on: reducing bureaucracy, development and
deployment of staff and the use of technology. We will be carefully considering
our response in the next few months.
'Cumbria Constabulary is one of the safest places to live, work and visit
and it is essential that this high level of service is maintained and
developed. We will be considering the report in great detail and ensuring
in our response that the unique factors such as policing a large rural
county are taken in to account. Together we will make Cumbria safer and
stronger.'
