WHILE the Government’s promise to recruit 20,000 police officers to replace those lost in the drive for austerity is welcome one wonders at the sheer waste of money involved in this apparent act of repentance.

However, John Dwyer, the Conservative Party’s PCC candidate, is mistaken in believing that this will have an ‘immediate impact on many of the major issues’ confronting officers.

Britain’s most serious counterterrorism officer, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu has unequivocally stated that ‘Policies that go towards more social inclusion...are much more likely to drive down violence...than all the policing and state security apparatus put together’.

Paul Thomson