A safer place to live

Went along to a Kent Police Neighbourhood Management conference in Pembury today. The message - echoed over and over again by all partners - is that Tunbridge Wells really is a "great place to live". The main headlines were:

That the fear of crime is far higher than the actual incidence of crime.

That the levels of nuisance crime fell during the summer holidays in those areas where activities were organised for young people.

That in Cranbrook, there had been no reported incidence of "distraction burglaries" since the introduction of the "No Cold Calling" scheme a year ago.

That where there is greater control of the night time economy, incidence of anti social behaviour falls.

And that when everybody works together - as in the Crime Reduction Partnership - "things get done".

But if two hundred people in a hotel in Pembury can see this, why does this Government insist on imposing top down heavy handed bureaucracy and overbearing target setting and performance monitoring, through thousands of highly paid Government "policy officers"?