I went down to the Sussex Police Authority‘s very well-attended public meeting a couple of weeks ago. It was a strange sort of meeting with several failed attempts to hijack the evening and one very successful one. I started writing about it and never finished.

First of all there were some presentations by the Police Authority and the Crawley’s Chief Inspector. There was a barrage of statistics (overall crime down 9.3%, vehicle crime down 20.4%, 35.4% of crimes detected, 80% public satisfaction rate, etc.) and then the usual complaints about the levels of funding from central government, followed by some talk about how to save money.

I am beginning to think that these complaints about funding are counter-productive, partly because just about every authority of any type seems to say they are being overlooked in favour of other authorities and they can’t all be right.

Afterthe presentations came the question and answer session, and the sussex police authority’s attempt to hijack the meeting and turn it into a moan about the government was in turn hijacked several times.

First of all there was a local character who asked an obscure question which seemed to be leading towards some sort of point about Islamic fundamentalists, but thats just a guess: the Chief Inspector diverted the whole thingbefore thetortuous analogy could be completed.

This was followed by a familiar voice from the back of the hall. Yes it was an even more well-known local character, Arshad Khan, the one-man political party who tried to turn the meeting into a rally for his strange crusade, at one point referring to the police as toothless tigers. Anyone who has been to many public meetings in Crawley will be familiar with the sort of thing he was saying.

There was also an attempt to use the meeting about policing to get more support for a planning issue in Ifield. A very good cause as it happens, but perhaps not entirely relevent to the evening’s agenda.

But the main, and most successful hijack came from various members of the neighbourhood watch. One of the money-saving ideas being considered was to get rid of local CPOs and neighbourhood watch co-ordinators (or supervisors or whatever they are called) and just have one person running the show from Lewes, where the authority is based.

Basically they all wanted to say that they didn’t like it. Some of them just came out and said so in different ways, and others managed to phrase it as a question (eg “don’t you think its a bad idea?”). I lost count of the number of people who all stood up and said the same thing, despite all getting the same answer. Did they think that the old bill would give in and suddenly say something different after the 8th time of asking?

The funniest contribution was from one neighbourhood watch person who said that its all very well talking about statistics of fewer burglaries or thefts from motor vehicles but we want to see something done about prevention. He got a round applause for that, and none of it was ironic, but I still can’t see how a reduction in crimes can be anything other than prevention. Possibly someone so immersed in his own part of the process that he has lost sight of the outcomes.

One lady pointed out, towards the end, that she was unhappy she was because the questioning was limited to one question each and she had more than one question but could not ask them because all the time was taken up with lots of other people all asking the same thing and getting the same answer. At which point the majority of the crowd turned on her and there was actually some booing.

Now why is this a problem? Surely the neighbourhood watch is a good thing? And surely a reduction in support for the programme is a bad thing?

Maybe so. Sometimes I suspect that the neighbourhood watch does more for the reduction of fear of crime than for prevention of crime for those taking part. That and possible affects on insurance premiums. But I am sure the police derive a lot of benefit from information they receive through it which benefits us all rather than just those taking part.

But thats not the point. Obviously the high turnout at the meeting was the result of an orchestrated attempt to put pressure on the police authority by packing the meeting, even though there was an AGM for the neighbourhood watch later in the same week and the result was that anything not related to neighbourhood watch stood very little chance of getting addressed. Even if a particular topic is more important than anything else, it does not make everything else unimportant.

I particularly felt for the poor woman at the back of the hall because I remembered her from a meeting last month. She was at the Broadfield neighbourhood forum and had some points about policing to raise. That meeting had at least 5 representatives from Sussex Police there but she was advised to take her questions to the police authority meeting. When she got there she was stifled.

I got the impression that she was just a ‘normal’ member of the public – not involved with any political party or pressure group or anything, just interested enough to actually turn up at a public meeting. That is rare. In effect she got fobbed off onto another meeting and she actually went to that one. That is even more rare. I do wonder whether she has now been put off any sort of involvement. That would be a shame.

Going to public meetings means that you see the same old faces over and over again, When a new one turns up they should be welcomed and encouraged, not made to feel like they are intruding on an established clique.

Talking of the same old faces though, at the police authority meeting I saw several ex-Labour councillors like myself, and even more current Labour councillors, plus a few active members of the party. I saw two Tories there, and one of them only came in towards the end. Remember that this is the so-called party of law and order.

I was reminded of this at the weekend when I went to the Crawley Campaign Against Racism’s annual social evening. Again there were at least half a dozen Labour councillors, a few ex-Labour councillors and candidates, the Labour MP and more than a few party members. There were at least 6 Labour members there in the afternoon helping to set the hall up. The only Tory I recognised was the deputy mayor who was invited as a VIP. In the past few years I can only remember one Tory turning up who was not invited as a VIP, and that was only the once.

I am not for a moment suggesting that the local Tories are at all racist, or unconcerned about crime and disorder, in fact I know they are not, but they don’t seem to be going out and doing anything about it. Perhaps this is one area where we have been getting it wrong in the Labour party – we have been wasting time getting out and getting involved in everything while the Tories save their energies for election campaigning?