No more excuses

Police conferences have not been easy occasions for Home Office ministers to navigate. In recent years, several have been booed by rank-and-file bobbies. Chief officers are somewhat more restrained and listened politely to Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, when she addressed them in London yesterday. But her message was as uncompromising as any they will have heard from a politician in recent times.

There would, she said, be “no excuses” if they fail to reduce crime and make streets safer now that the Government is providing the money for 20,000 extra officers. By the time they were fully deployed, “people must see a difference”.

Miss Patel has had a rocky few weeks, amid reports of ructions within the Home Office over her unhappiness with senior officials. The disagreements appear to stem from Miss Patel’s exacting requirements and an implacable belief that it is the Government’s function to deliver what it promises to the voters. That is something to be commended, not denounced.

It is hardly controversial to urge the police to crack down on crime and prioritise the clear-up of offences that matter to people, such as burglaries. Miss Patel said chiefs would be held to account against national, centrally set policing “outcomes”. There are dangers in setting targets, as only things that are measurable get done. One reason why so few bobbies are deployed on the streets is that the efficacy of beat patrols cannot easily be established statistically. However, they reassure the public and are a sign that keeping order is taken seriously.

If the Government provides 20,000 extra officers and they are still absent from our streets then someone will need to explain why.