Let's cut crime by leaving local policing up to local people - Yorkshire Post, 26 February 2009

YORKSHIRE policing was reorganised into four large forces in 1974. A factor was criticism of the Leeds City Police Force over the death of David Oluwale, now being dramatised at the city's West Yorkshire playhouse.

The new structure, although it addressed "bad apples" in local forces, left a legacy of amorphous mega-forces, which have never really suited Yorkshire's communities.

Crime has mutated. From internet to gun crime to people trafficking, new threats are emerging. There are growing concerns about low level crime as well as increased activities of serious gangs in the region. The "Mr Bigs" of the criminal world are gaining traction. The mega-forces are not big enough to deal with serious organised crime or small enough to target embedded anti-social behaviour.

The huge forces in West Yorkshire (5,876 officers), South Yorkshire (3,160 officers) and Humberside (2,180 officers) have lost their link with city and borough councils, making it harder for people to influence their decisions. North Yorkshire is a more reasonable 1,512 officers for a larger area, and was relatively unscathed in the 1970s police reforms.

The police themselves are fed up of diktats and form filling from the Home Office. Evidence shows that bigger is not better and that small forces of local bobbies solve crimes better than the mega forces.

In Reform's report, A new force, we advocate allowing cities such as Leeds and Bradford to run their own police forces again. This would mean that at Leeds City Council elections - as well as electing a councillor - people could elect a Mayor or Police Commissioner who vowed to make dealing with gang crime a priority. Those voting in Ripon in North Yorkshire could elect a Police Commissioner who promised to sort out anti-social behaviour in the city centre.

We also advocate much better coordination on serious and organised crime. The four Yorkshire forces are not fully able to deal with serious and organised crime, which is growing and often has national and international connections. A new drugs route opening through the Balkans can have an impact on the street price of cocaine in Leeds. A recent SOCA report suggested that there has been a large increase in the quantity of firearms imports leading to an increase in the number of guns in circulation in major cities such as Sheffield and Leeds.

At present, criminals are able to exploit the lack of intelligence between forces to their advantage. In 2004, the report into the Soham murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells identified that police forces did not share information on serious crime effectively.

In 2005, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary's damning Closing the Gap report told of a failure to address serious regional crime. Concerns of this nature were the misguided logic behind the proposals in 2006 to create a Yorkshire "superforce". This failed because of local opposition and - more importantly for the Treasury - its prohibitive cost.

But we do not need a "big bang" solution to deal with these issues. With co-ordination from the Metropolitan Police on serious and organised crime, local officers could be funded by the Home Office to tackle gang crime and get access to better information.

Police in Sheffield have already shown they can make progress, reducing gun crime by 42 per cent. This could be augmented with greater national intelligence and co-ordination.

There is already a successful counter-terrorism hub working in West Yorkshire with co-ordination from London - to maintain intelligence about the activities of terrorist networks.

This hub is staffed by Yorkshire officers who know the patch and can work with other police in the local force. It is right that this surveillance and investigative capacity is funded nationally - this is a serious threat to our country.

We should put in place similar hubs to deal with serious gang crime that is affecting Yorkshire's cities.

These could be developed in conjunction with existing serious crime units - but they would now be able to tap into national and international intelligence. They would be embedded in the local forces. This should again be funded by the Home Office.

If we are to make a dent in serious organised crime, police forces across England need to share intelligence and co-ordinate the efforts.

Catching the kingpins will help to deal with the scourges of drugs and guns on our streets. The Home Secretary should focus on this serious threat and leave local policing up to local people.

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