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The Association of British Drivers| "SEVENTY-THREE per cent of respondents to a poll on Richard Brunstrom indicated that they did not believe he was doing a good job. Mr Brunstrom says he acknowledges the results of the poll and will consider this in reviewing policies. That just won't do. I can only think he has either missed the point completely or he is attempting a Blairite 'spin' response. Respondents voted on his personal performance, not on North Wales Police policies. The question was: 'Do you think Richard Brunstrom is doing a good job?' I would suggest a more appropriate response might be: 'I shall have to carefully consider my own position.' His dismissive response to a serious situation entirely of his own making is a 'cop out', just as it was a 'cop-out' to respond to criticism of the most abysmal burglary detection rate on record by saying that he has asked the Deputy Chief Constable to discuss this aspect of performance with divisional commanders. So it's all their fault is it? He is the Chief Constable and is ultimately responsible and accountable for the performance of North Wales Police. Current performance dearly merits much more of his personal attention by way of 'time-out' from his all too frequent and bizarre attention-drawing pronouncements and law-changing and life-changing issues. He dismisses the lowest ever detection rate of six percent for house burglary, which has also now gained him much media attention, as old news and ridiculous. Well the last one is certainly an appropriate description - for which he personally would have been called seriously to account by a less sycophantic and more effective police authority. Additionally, he described the six per cent as 'a blip'. Some blip, especially if it is all down to a spate of burglaries in Wrexham How enormous would that spate have to be to drag down an otherwise presumably respectable North Wales detection rate to six per cent? He also says he is concerned is that national and local politicians 'do not know what they are talking about'. How arrogant and patronising. Does he not realise that he cannot fool people that easily in publicly rejecting the legitimate concerns of elected representatives about police performance? Before he came to North Wales in 2000 the Force's detection rate for burglaries in dwellings stood at 46.4 per cent for 1998/99, 37.9 per cent for 1997/98 and 32.3 per cent for 1996/97. Now he proudly states that he has set a target 25 per cent detection rate for house burglaries. This is an unprecedented decline in performance for which he cannot shirk responsibility. It is a major failure, made even worse by the Chairman of the Police Authority and the Assistant Chief Constable describing the man ultimately responsible for the worst house burglary detection rate in the UK as the best chief constable in Britain. We are entitled to expect a Chief Constable to be professionally efficient, to set and sustain high standards of conduct for his force, to be open, honest and proportionate in his responses and to be ever mindful of the fact that policing in the UK is firmly based on the consent and support of policed communities. He must also be prepared to be held personally accountable for the performance of the force and must, therefore, ensure that avail able resources are used to best effect and conditions right for all members to give of their best. Come on, Mr Brunstrom, North Wales Police is getting unprecedented sums of money out of North Wales taxpayers and has never before had anything like so many officers and support staff. Concentrate on leading the performance of this fine body of people instead of indulging yourself on local and national platforms. The huge amounts of money lavished in the past three years on such things as new offices for you and your Chief Officer colleagues, and private offices and laptops for police authority members has done nothing to enhance policing services. Neither does it help burglary victims to hear that North Wales Police is now the most technologically advanced force in the UK when they also know the force is very unlikely to be able to offer them a half decent service when they need it. We all want to be genuinely proud of the performance of the North Wales Police and not to have to listen to unconvincing 'spin' about pride and distorted statistical arguments. To make a statement like 'The Force is successful on all fronts' is just about as absurd a comment as anyone could make. I am deeply saddened after serving 30 years with great pride in the North Wales Police to hear many serving and retired officers express deep shame at the decline in performance and also in officers' personal appearance standards since Mr Brunstrom's appointment as Chief Constable. North Wales Police performance always stood among that of leading forces in the country. Just look at it now; lower burglary detection rates in rural North Wales than metropolitan Manchester and London; serving officers complaining of the creation of a planet of extreme political correctness; a force obsessed with speeding motorists whilst failing miserably to bring dishonest and threatening criminals to justice. It's time for Mr Brunstrom to suppress his natural inclination to court publicity and to get a grip on the really important police performance and public perception issues before the lack of public confidence in him seriously damages the fine reputation the North Wales Police has enjoyed over so many years. Former Assistant Chief Constable Elfed Wynn Roberts Glasinfryn Bangor |
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