NEW performance figures for Greater Manchester Police confirm that the force has one of the worst records in the country for solving crime. Incidentally, the figures were on top of deterioration from the year before.
In return for the council tax hike last April -- the lion's share of which was supposedly to pay for extra police resources -- the people of Bury are not getting much in return, are they?
The popular perception that things are getting worse rather than better is based on a real state of affairs and exists in spite of efforts by New Labour ministers, who line up to convey the opposite. Furthermore, the overall performance figures for the rest of the country are not much better.
Equally unsuccessful is the Government's attempt to create the impression that a substantial amount of police time is spent on "front-line policing". To most people, this means protecting the public with bobbies on the beat. Not so. In reality, it includes dealing with the mountain of paperwork that has been foisted on police forces.
JEAN ALLISON (Mrs),
Ramsbottom.
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