Police (Effectiveness) (Hansard, 16 February 1984)

§ 4. Mr. Watts
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase the effectiveness of the police.

§ Mr. Brittan
Guidance has been issued to chief officers of police and police authorities about the need for effective and efficient use of resources. Her Majesty's inspectors of constabulary have been asked to pay particular attention to the way resources are deployed and to ensure that examples of good practice are widely disseminated. My Department's contribution to improved effectiveness and efficiency includes the development of new technology, improved police training, the work of the crime prevention unit and research.

§ Mr. Watts
Will my right hon. and learned Friend join me in welcoming the improved effectiveness of Slough police division, as shown by the 6 per cent. improvement in its detection rate last year, which has been achieved by maintaining regular contact at grass roots level with the public, not through bureaucractic and cumbersome machinery? Will he emphasise in any guidance that he issues on consultative procedure the value of grass roots liaison?

§ Mr. Brittan
I welcome the opportunity to commend any such achievements as those recorded by my hon. Friend. I entirely agree about the need for consultation. What we have stressed at all points is that there must be flexibility in the arrangements. We are not seeking to impose a blueprint. The more informal the arrangements, in accordance with the needs of a particular area, the better, although in some areas it may be necessary to have more elaborate machinery.

§ Mr. Winnick
Is the Home Secretary aware of the considerable concern over the way in which all the papers 367 and diaries of Mr. Duncan Campbell were searched by the police after he had an accident on his bicycle? Is it not time that the Government recognised that we are living in a democratic country and that basic civil liberties should be respected, even by the Home Secretary and the authorities?

§ Mr. Brittan
The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to the importance of civil liberties. For that reason, the warrant under which Mr. Campbell's premises were searched was issued by the courts in response to an application under the law of the land.

§ Mr. Mark Carlisle
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one of the most effective ways in which to increase police effectiveness in dealing with burglaries and vandalism is to ensure that there is close co-operation with the public in crime prevention measures? I congratulate my right hon. and learned Friend on the initiatives that he has taken on this issue and ask him to do all that he can to ensure that he is given as much support as possible.

§ Mr. Brittan
I am grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend for what he has said. Crime prevention is assuming a new order of priority in attitudes towards policing, and measures have been taken to this end, both in setting up a unit in the Home Office and in issuing a circular calling on local authorities and others to take the lead, which is essential. I hope that this will lead to serious local crime prevention in accordance with the needs of the locality.

§ Mr. Dubs
Does the Home Secretary agree that the effectiveness of the police force in the London area and the south east of England is being considerably reduced by the need to guard prisoners in police and court cells? Would the right hon. and learned Gentleman care to comment on his commitment that such prisoners would be cleared out of the cells by 1 January, a commitment that he lived up to for two or three days only, as by the end of January 145 prisoners were in such cells?

§ Mr. Brittan
Had the hon. Gentleman bothered to read further he would have seen that I made it clear that although it was our policy that prisoners who were remanded to prison should not he kept in police cells, there would be difficulties in the earlier part of the year. None the less, there has been a substantial achievement and I commend the prison department for it. We have succeeded in ending the routine use of police cells for custody and have brought the numbers down from hundreds in regular use last year. I am certain that with the further accommodation that will be available later in the year we shall be able to deal with the outstanding problems and give effect to a real commitment and an important change.