‘What can I blog about that hasn’t already been said?’ writes Chief Inspector Paul Moxley from the Police Command Team in Telford.

For starters I was previously an Inspector in Telford before promotion some six years ago and I’ve recently returned and am now responsible for the response side of policing. The means officers like the panda drivers . . . or the ones nobody ever seems to see on the streets (according to some previous blogs I’ve read!).

In all honesty, it would be nice to have more response officers, but that’s just not going to happen. Work is however definitely underway to reduce the crucifying bureaucracy that weighs down front line staff.

Accountability is one thing but over the last ten years, most in the police service would agree that we do seem to have gone a little over the top with our risk averse mentality – mainly because we were hauled over the coals for any minor error, irrespective of what the consequences were.

There is a refreshing change in police culture generally that is moving towards a more pragmatic and common sense based approach, based mainly on what the victim wants and not what we or the government think they should have. This culture will take some time to bed in, as all major shifts in thinking do, but it should allow my front line staff to spend a little more time out there on the streets of Telford.

Yes, I’m afraid we’ll probably still be in vehicles most of the time because walking is a luxury for officers that in all honesty just can’t be justified in modern times. We simply have to respond to stuff in quick time.

‘Bobbies’ on the beat are great but even in a compact, urban area such as Telford, distances are such that we’d never be able to provide an effective emergency response;

“Hello, yes I’ve had a crash on the Queensway”;

“OK thanks, just extricate yourself from your vehicle and stop the traffic and we’ll send a couple of ‘Bobbies’. They’re on foot so will be with you within the hour . . .;”

I just can’t see it working, can you?

Things are definitely moving in the right direction with less bureaucracy and fewer performance indicators though – trust me . . . previously the police measured everything!

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) remain a fantastic resource and they won’t be replaced by police officers. They carry out the softer side of policing that often goes unnoticed.

Reassurance within any community is a slippery beast to quantify but our PCSOs carry out innumerable tasks which add significant value to the most vulnerable within our society. Tasks which, in all probability, police officers would not have the time to undertake.

Sworn powers are not as important as some might think when it comes to reassurance and preventative work and this work is something which they all do in abundance and particularly well.

Back to my colleagues on ‘response’ – the panda drivers. We’ll never get things 100% right and I accept that we sometimes aren’t as visible as perhaps we should be in the areas where crime and anti-social behaviour is low.

However, there are an enthusiastic and committed group of officers who police Telford and their work ethic is impressive. We will always have to prioritise calls for assistance and unfortunately we are constantly beleaguered by hoax calls and such like which take officers away from their main role, protecting the public.

I cannot always guarantee that we will get everything right, but it will not be through a lack of commitment or care.