Cameron wants police to move to his beat
David Cameron says fighting crime is at the top of the Tories' agenda
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Tuesday, 03, Apr 2007 04:42
David Cameron has unveiled the Conservative party's vision of a reformed police force in England and Wales that spends its time fighting crime and not filling in forms.
Today's interim report from the Tories' police reform taskforce, headed by shadow home secretary David Davis, accuses Labour of hindering police forces with unnecessary bureaucracy.
Among the 250-page report's proposals are that a senior staff college in the vein of the armed forces' Sandhurst be set up, as well as elected US-style police commissioners responsible for appointing and dismissing chief constables.
In addition, Mr Cameron explained how a 15,000 strong national police force could lower crime levels by targeting serious and organised crime.
The Tory helmsman accused prime minister Tony Blair of presiding over a doubling of incidents of violent crime during his ten years in power, adding that government targets had forced unnecessary bureaucracy upon officers nationwide.
"It's quite clear what the police should be doing: not filling in forms, driving round in cars or hassling law-abiding people so officers can hit government targets, but out there doing what they want to be doing - stopping crime from happening and catching criminals when it does happen," he said.
"The police have a very clear responsibility when it comes to crime, but Labour have made it harder for the police to live up to it. Their clear, focused, crime-fighting responsibility has got lost in a Labour sea of red tape, and targets, and management consultants, and reorganisations."
Mr Cameron suggested that increased use of computerised systems and civilian workers could help alleviate administrative pressures from police forces.
Explaining that the "mission" of his brand of conservatism was to "improve the quality of life for everyone", the Tory leader went on to say: "There is no greater assault on people's quality of life than crime and the fear of crime and so fighting crime is right at the top of our quality of life agenda.
"We're going to have to turn this around," he added.
"It won't be easy. It won't be quick. But by replacing Labour's top-down centralisation with bottom-up local accountability, by replacing Labour's superficial gimmicks with serious and substantive change and by replacing state control with social responsibility, I know we can make this country a safer and better place to live - for everyone."