Camden New Journal - Letters: Borough

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Camden New Journal - Letters to the Editor
Published: 29 November 2007

Borough police deserve our praise

• I AM pleased you highlighted the recent inspection of Camden police, though it was disappointing that your article focused solely on one of the negative aspects in a report that was, on the whole, positive (‘Them and us’ police are failing to tackle robbery and burglary, November 15).
You are right to highlight concerns about police performance, but this was an issue that the council and the police identified about nine months ago when we put in measures to turn this around, and we are now back on track, seeing a 26 per cent reduction in crime in Camden.
Your article misses the point in two ways: first, we need to look at police performance and crime reduction over the long term, not just short- term blips of either poor or good performance.
This is recognised in the report, which cites not only the current good performance in Camden but also the long-term trend in crime reduction.
Secondly, government targets are to reduce the number of crimes – with no interest in what these crimes are or whether criminals are successfully prosecuted.
To meet government targets it is quite possible to ignore serious crime and issue warnings instead of making arrests.
In Camden we do not do this. Instead, Camden police prioritise serious crime and on making sure arrests and prosecutions are successful. The government’s approach to crime reduction meant that Camden police were criticised for this: I think they should be congratulated.
CLLR BEN RAWLINGS
Executive Member for Community Safety

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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