Hi everyone, There has been loads in the news this week about the credit crunch and banking crisis. Amidst all that was the story about the resignation of the Commissioner Ian Blair. Alot of senior officers will now be jostling and fighting for the top job. One thing they will all have in common is a commitment to Safer Neighbourhoods.

Sometimes members of the public speak to me and say the teams aren't doing enough to combat this or that, or should be doing things differently, or not at all. As well as listening to the concerns and responding to them I often ask them to think back a few years to a time before community policing.

In those days anti-social behaviour, graffitti, neighbour disputes, and general unpleasantness went largely ignored by us. We were busy, we are always busy, but we were concentrating on our priotities and not yours.

Now, every ward has its own team who are trying their best to sort out quality of life issues. Community policing is working thats why whoever gets the top job your teams are here to stay.

Keep well and keep safe Neil