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Neighbourhood Policing

I congratulate Thames Valley police on completing the roll-out of neighbourhood policing across the Thames Valley police area this month—one month ahead of the deadline. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) for securing this debate in such a timely fashion and for opening it with such an excellent speech. I should like to say how much I agree with the remarks of the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field). It is very good if neighbourhood policing can be entrenched on a cross-party basis, which is obviously best for community confidence. Neighbourhood policing is a great success, popular with the public and effective in fighting crime. It is popular with the public because it puts more uniformed officers on the streets and, I am sure, because it links local policing to local priorities through the involvement of local people in neighbourhood action groups, which in Oxford pool the input of residents, neighbourhood watch, parish, city and county councillors, housing officers, youth services and schools, the city council crime and nuisance action team, city council street wardens and park rangers—all of whom address the problems of antisocial behaviour, about which my hon. Friend spoke. The use of consultations and surveys helps to keep policing focused on what people are most concerned about and ensures that it addresses the day-to-day issues of community safety. At a time when many types of crime, perpetrated by highly organised criminals, must be combated with specialist units and sophisticated operations, which are often inevitably remote, neighbourhood policing makes policing visible at street level, thus enhancing confidence and security and garnering intelligence. I thank the neighbourhood specialist officers, the supporting special constabulary officers, the police community support officers, street wardens and park rangers for all their work in our community. Thanks to the innovation and resources provided by our Government, their work is just what modern policing often lacked before they came along: officers out on foot or on their bikes, with time to chat to pensioners and to youths hanging out, time to call round the shopping precincts and estates and time to engage actively in community events—all the time building trust and confidence and forging local links and friendships.