Gloucester Police have publically expressed concerns at the financial pressures facing them with Chief Constable Melville describing it as a ‘metaphorical cliff edge.’

We’re very lucky here in Kent that we’re managing despite having to cut £50million during a four year period. The Authority and Force have done a really good job at planning for the austerity measures and I’m proud of all involved.

Last November the Force underwent a shakeup that led to frontline services being boosted by 50 per cent. Neighbourhood policing is at the heart of what we do here and we know from our consultation work that the public wants to see more officers on the beat. Despite all the financial pressures the force has been able to deliver this which is no mean feat.

Being an ex-teacher I was interested to read about the growth of gangs in London. I’m really passionate about young people and I think there is the risk of tarnishing everyone with the same brush. Yes the London riots were a shock but not every person involved was a youngster. It’s hard to say what young people could be offered in this day and age to change their behaviour and values; many would say that the first lesson starts at home. I was staggered and quite sad at the estimated number of London gang members which is over 4,000. I hope that the Met and partner agencies can do something to radically reduce this.

Today I saw the Home Secretary giving her speech on police reform and the desire to see forces ‘quickly identify the vulnerable and those who reported incidents repeatedly, and to prioritise their cases.’ I’m pleased to say that Kent is ahead of the game as last year the Authority and Force implemented a new anti-social behaviour strategy.

The new way of working draws on the lessons learned from high-profile national cases such as Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her 18-year-old disabled daughter, Francesca Hardwick, in October 2007 after 10 years of harassment from local youths.

This subject is very emotive and whenever I’m out and about it’s the quality of life crimes that really hit people hard. I’ll watch with interest the findings from the Home Office on anti-social behaviour and remain confident that Kent has a very good system in place to deal with these complaints.

Well I have to say that watching the play “One Man, Two Guvnors” last week was hilarious and I would definitely recommend going to see the play. It had me in stitches. James Corden (Smithy from Gavin and Stacey) was the star of the show, but everyone who performed in it was excellent – a real team effort!

This week is again a very busy one. I have Home Office appointments today and tomorrow on a variety of issues, and the Association of Police Authorities’ Council meeting on Thursday. My poor husband is very long suffering – I am away from home for days at a time – but he does say that he gets to watch decent television when I am away instead of the rubbish I watch!

Did anyone else read The Daily Telegraph article about crime and transparency over the weekend? The article basically questioned how crime statistics released for a 12 month overview saw offences recorded by the police fall by four per cent, in a year when we had the biggest riots for 30 years, and which conflicted with the British Crime Survey that showed an increase in crime.

So what is the public to make of all of this? The Home Office stipulate that forces record data in a certain way but that sometimes conflicts with other organisations, so we get two “stories” and what is the real picture?

But does the public really care about stats? I would suspect that most of the time the public are sceptical about number crunching and would take more notice of an encounter they had with a service at first hand, or what’s happening where they live. And that’s why I think it is so important that we get out there and speak to people.

For example, as part of the Authority’s communication and consultation work, we regularly visit Age Concern. Our member Cllr Tom Gates and his team last week visited the Dover Age Concern for another opportunity to find out what local people want from their policing and to answer any queries they had.

The group raised a few concerns, mostly council related I have to say, and we will make sure that information is passed on. Age Concern members also had police representatives on hand to listen to them and to take away actions. The whole process was open and transparent, and very, very useful to all concerned.