This is a talking point published in the Hereford Times on September 5.

Helen Wain, Herefordshire police commander

I WRITE this at the end of a busy month for policing. The impact of the riots following the tragic murder of three young girls in Southport will not have escaped anyone.

Whilst we did not see any significant disorder in Herefordshire, the situation nationally still has an impact with local communities and businesses understandably concerned and with officers deployed to support the response to disorder in other forces.

As things settle back to normality I reflect Robert Peel’s view that ‘the police are the public and the public are the police’ that is still as central to the British model of policing as it was 200 years ago.

Public confidence in policing is critical to an effective police service, enabling us to prevent and detect crime.

In Herefordshire, 82 per cent of residents feel they would receive a good service from West Mercia Police and feel that crime and anti-social behaviour is not a problem in their area.

Whilst this is high, it is short of the force’s aspirational target of 88 per cent, and I will work hard to ensure that your communities feel satisfied with the visibility and effectiveness of my teams, and that we listen to your priorities and ask for your feedback.

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What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

One area where we do this well is in scrutiny of our powers to stop and search. We hold a quarterly panel of young people to review body-worn videos of stop searches, supported by the team at the South Wye Police Boxing Club. Feedback from the panel is passed to officers so that we improve practice.

The panel is overseen by a member of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG), local volunteers who offer impartial advice to police on a range of different subjects.

The IAG is keen to recruit new members, particularly those from ethnically diverse backgrounds. If you’d like to find out more about stop and search or the IAG there is further information on our website at https://www.westmercia.police. uk