The British Crime Survey shows that most people do not have confidence in the ability of the police and their local council to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. Only 46 percent of people in England and Wales do, according to the survey.
In a way this is not surprising, you see the police on the street less than you used to and the police do not seem concerned with many of the crimes that worry the public most. Jacqui Smith, The Daily Mail reports, is now going to scrap all other targets and instead require all police forces to reach a 60 percent level of confidence by 2012. But if public confidence is what the police are to be measured on, why not go the whole hog and make police chiefs accountable to the public at the ballot box?
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