Fighting Crime (Public Engagement)

I shall come on to that subject later in my remarks, but I should say that I went out with the specials in Nottingham last Friday as part of national specials week, which was not only about trying to encourage more people to become specials, but about highlighting the excellent work that they do. I am sure that the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies), who is sat next to the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone), will know even better than many of us the excellent work that specials do. I have talked to my local police, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman has in Northamptonshire, and they say to me that, although they may not have on the books as many specials as they used to, they are far more active now. He should talk to the chief constable of Northamptonshire, as I speak to chief constables throughout the country. They tell me that the work that the specials do is greater now than it ever has been, and that more specials are involved in neighbourhood policing teams and in the various tasks that we would expect them to do. Of course it is important that we have more and more specials, but I want to see them not just as a number on a piece of paper, but as active police officers in the best sense of the word. Just to reinforce the point, if the hon. Gentleman looks into the issue, he will find that the number of specials who are active and out and about is greater now than it has been. However, we will always try to recruit more specials and get more involved.