Fighting Crime (Public Engagement)

I want to descend to the mundane and respond to the right hon. Gentleman's valid point about poor communications with the police. My constituents have a variable view of that, as some get good responses from the police, and some poor. Does he agree that it is imperative that the police understand that it does not really matter to people if they get a reply from a civilian, a volunteer or a police officer? What matters to them is that they get through to a real person when they phone, and that a real person phones them back with the answer that they need, and does so in a reasonable time, which is normally a day. That should not be beyond the wit of any police service in Britain. Will the right hon. Gentleman join me in getting the message out that the police must understand that if they do not deliver that, they will be failing our public on a regular basis?