Category Archives: North Wales Police

An intensely depressing story in this morning’s Mail.

Police officers in North Wales have been instructed to patrol in plain clothes,  in an effort to book people for dropping litter. This is perhaps surprising, given the prevalence of more serious crimes that concern so many people.

What is worse, when they do nab a litter lout, they have to radio a community support officer to issue the fixed penalty notice, because, for some obscure reason, they don’t have the power to do so themselves.

It is hardly surprising, in the circumstances, that Richard Eccles, North Wales Police Federation general secretary, says that the reluctant undercover bobbies are made to feel like “plonkers”.

Moreover, despite the Home Office’s assurances that police targets are being reduced so as to give officers more professional discretion, this does not extend to littering.  Richard Eccles explained:

“The Home Secretary was talking about removing some of the targets and performance indicators at the [Federation] conference, but as she was speaking a colleague received a BlackBerry message saying he had to make sure his team issue 200 tickets for littering by the end of 2009.”

Mr Eccles says that the police are fed up with dealing with minor crimes, which should be left to the council, leaving officers to tackle more serious offences such as burglaries, violent assault and theft.

He is, of course, entirely right.  Litter is a dreadful nuisance, but it is not a problem that demands the priority attention of fully-qualified police officers, particularly when resources are already so stretched.

Last year, I questioned the Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker, on the floor of the House about the Federation’s survey Perception is Reality, which identified a worrying  incidence of low morale among North Wales officers caused, chiefly, by the target-chasing performance culture within the force.

In response, the Minister said:

The hon. Gentleman… will know of the measures that we are taking to reduce bureaucracy, not least the appointment of Jan Berry as the reducing bureaucracy champion. Furthermore, the hon. Gentleman will know of the confidence measures that we are taking to reduce the number of targets and to have a single force area target. No doubt all those measures will be welcomed in north Wales, as they have been across the rest of the country.”

That was over six months ago.  Commenting on the Minister’s answer, I blogged:

If those measures do work, they will certainly be welcomed. However, if the Federation survey is anything to go by, they’re not working yet.  At least, not in North Wales.

It seems that, notwithstanding Vernon Coaker’s optimism, the target culture remains in full and enthusiastic operation in North Wales.

Time, I think, for me to raise the question again.

Last Sunday evening, as the winter light was beginning to fail, I was driving along the A55 near Caerwys when, to my horror, I saw a man walking unsteadily down the centre of the slip road in the direction of the main carriageway.

Worried about what might happen to him, I called 999 on the hands-free.   The response was astonishingly impressive.  The call was picked up before the first ring and I was transferred with equal speed to the police operator, who took the details swiftly and assured me that a car would be sent immediately to the scene.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited the North Wales Police communications centre at St Asaph; the visit had been arranged several months ago, but, given my experience last weekend, I was interested to see how the emergency call system worked.

The communications centre is operated as a separate division within the force and is headed by Superintendent Peter Newton, assisted by my friend Chief Inspector Jane Banham, formerly district Inspector at Colwyn Bay.

The communications room is a vast area that resembles the bridge of the starship Enterprise.   Banks of computer screens record incidents as they come in.  I watched the progress of the investigation of a report of missing person near Mochdre; the car arrived and the officers relayed the information from the ground to the communications centre, where the Inspector in charge of the watch monitored its progress.

The computerised system is capable of pinpointing the position of every officer deployed in the force area with high accuracy.  Copy documents and photographs can be sent to the officer’s BlackBerry.  The whole operation is seamlessly integrated and is among the most advanced in the country, rivalled only by Cheshire.

I told Peter Newton about my experience on the A55; what, I wondered, had happened to the man I saw wandering towards the carriageway?  Quickly, he called the incident up on the screen.  Another motorist had also rung in, expressing concern.  A car had been despatched and discovered that the individual was a Pole, trying to hitch his way to Chester.  The police had picked him up and dropped him off safely further down the road.

It was, in every sense, a happy ending to the visit.

Was called this afternoon by a journalist looking for a comment. Devon and Cornwall Police have decided to buy bicycles for its officers, to cut down on the cost of fuelling its fleet of cars. The journo had approached the Welsh police forces to see if they intended to follow suit, but had been told that the “hilly topography” of the principality made the idea impracticable. What, he wanted to know, did I think?

Well, I told him, I thought it was an excellent idea. Not only were bikes economical, they were good for the planet and good for the officers’ waistlines. Moreover, in urban areas, they could often prove a quicker means of transport than cars.

But there’s nothing new under the sun. When I was a boy, policemen often used to patrol on bikes, and I lived in a particularly hilly area of North Wales.

Even today, bikes are still routinely used by many other forces in the country. The City of London Police, for instance, has its own dedicated cycle squad, based at Bishopsgate police station. The team of cyclists is used for “high visibility patrol and to provide a fast response to calls”.

So if bikes work in London, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t work in Colwyn Bay. Goodness knows, we need high visibility policing, too.

And what’s more, bikes are much cheaper than horses.