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It has totally overhauled its organisation, techniques, procedures and deployment. The CID has been greatly strengthened, and new tactics developed. A personal radio scheme will start this year to increase operational effectiveness. To make the Force more accessible to the public a network of 85 reporting centres is being established, and on these is slowly being built a system of Neighbourhood Police Units as men become available. It is intended that the Auxiliary Police should play an increasing role in these as a link between the regular police and the public.
Vigorous steps to change its old relationship with the public have had
some success. Careful instructions to all ranks have been well supplemented by the
new Police Community Relations Officers. The Mutual Aid Committees help in keeping down crime within their own blocks and provide the police with points of contact and assistance and increasingly of information not previously available. The impact of the 168,000 members of Junior Police Call has been quite remarkable.
This is a catalogue of just some of the things the Force has done to refurbish its organisation to fight crime, and to enlist the help of the public. It is a story of considerable administrative effort and imaginative thinking.
This mobilisation of effort by the Police on the one hand, and the public on the other is beginning to have an effect. I am not thinking only of the crime
figures, though the rise in figures for overall crime has levelled off; those for
violent and key crime have begun to shrink; and in particular those for robbery have dropped significantly. There have been some notable successes against syndicated
crime.
But I would not be impressed by the bare figures, were it not that from the Mutual Aid Committees inside and outside housing estates I continually hear of
a greater sense of security, better liaison with the Police and the belief that fewer
crimes are being committed within the Committee's area.