Real policing

Via David Copperfield, I learn of the Campaign for Real Policing:

To increase the effectiveness of the police service and truly drive down crime in a way that detecting it cannot, I propose that bureaucracy should be considerably cut or at least the processing of paperwork passed to designated others.

This would have the consequence of creating a more visible police presence and thereby reducing the opportunity for crime to take place. I would also like to see the powers of police community support officers enhanced and their training broadened to allow them to process prisoners, investigate crime and complete the station based paperwork currently left to officers.

Further, I would like to see a comprehensive return to community policing in order to make our streets safer and capitalise on the advances forces have already made in this area.

Importantly, I would also like to see a system which measures police performance and officer productivity fairly and reflects all aspects of their role and not just those which are easy to measure. Equal emphasis needs to be given to preventing crime as there is to detecting it.