• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

If you had listened to the whole of that interview, you would have heard me mention exactly those figures that you have done now, and the Serious Crime Directorate is doing particularly well, and they come under that, but when I look at the variation in crime and detection rates for both burglary, vehicle crime, whatever it is, borough by borough, it gives me the impression that there are boroughs that are suffering from a lack of detectives, from a lack of detective skill, both in numbers and experience and all the rest, and whilst we concentrate on the uniform...

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

- only in part, to be fair -

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Thank you. We had a very useful meeting of the Budget Committee a few months ago, when we discussed this at some length, and one of the issues that came up, which I think links with that, is the amount of information available locally. I take your point, at any rate for the purposes of the question, about accountability, but the amount of information locally that is collected, can that be used any more effectively ' since you have a resource collected within the stations ' than is the case now?

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Therefore, with no funding it will not happen?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

We both agreed just now that the importance of the success of these teams rests primarily with the sergeant but also with the constables and the PCSOs, and my question specifically was: what are we doing to help them achieve that, and to understand, I will just put it simply, how local authorities, for instance, actually work?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Is part of that training giving them a better understanding of how the local democratic process works? I use the term quite widely. How local authorities work, what councillors are and do, so it is not something we must assume that police sergeants, even less probably constables, automatically understand. Like most members of the public they do not understand it at all.

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

That is very helpful. All of us here are strong supporters of neighbourhood policing, that is a given. We are expecting a lot of sergeants, constables and PCSOs to be on the Safer Neighbourhoods teams. What training and guidance do they get actually in how to go about the interaction with the public, public consultation, and determining what real priorities are for a community, as distinct from the loudest voice in the community?

• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

No, I know, that was not what I meant. Although in fact they are, I think, intending to be meeting regularly with ward councillors, and that is part of it. I think the police partnership with local authorities is usually at a slightly higher level than certainly constable, and probably sergeant.

• Question by: Richard Barnes
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Thank you very much, and can I thank you for your answer that you gave earlier to the Chair on how we are going to measure the inputs and what I call the `fluffy side' of politics and policing. How was it for you? What do you expect from us? Was it nice? Did he walk quickly? Did he walk slowly? All the fluffy bits, but is not the true measure of success at the MPS the manner in which it, one, prevents crime as it was asked to do in 1829, and secondly, we now call it public cohesion...

• Question by: Tony Arbour
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Sir Ian (Blair), you mentioned, I think it was first time I have heard it mentioned, that you appeared to concede that there is going to be a difference between Safer Neighbourhoods and non-Safer Neighbourhoods. Yet it is your aspiration, it is the aspiration of the MPA and it is the aspiration of Government, to see that every neighbourhood will be a Safer Neighbourhood. When will this happen? When will every neighbourhood be a Safer Neighbourhood, and how do you believe it will be funded?