British policing is envied around world – but we still have a job to strengthen our model for future

EACH day across the country brave police officers work hard to keep our country safe.

The British model of policing is envied around the world.

It relies on communities having confidence in the police, and on officers having the confidence to do their job.

The debate around Sergeant Martyn Blake’s case has shown how fragile that confidence can be.

We still have a job to strengthen our policing model for the future.

First, we will strengthen the law to protect firearms officers’ anonymity if they face criminal charges for their actions in the line of duty.

We’ll ensure the complexity of specialist roles done by firearms officers and pursuit drivers is taken into account early.

And we’ll make the threshold for referring a police officer to the Crown Prosecution Service the same as for the public — currently the threshold is lower.

Officers who act with integrity and professionalism need to know they have our support.

At the same time, we need to ensure officers who break the law or fail to uphold standards can be dealt with quickly — whether it is dismissing those found guilty of gross misconduct or suspending those under investigation for domestic abuse or sexual violence — so that communities know high standards are being maintained.

Our policing model can continue to be the envy of the world, but only if we keep strengthening it, ensuring our brave police men and women feel supported on our streets, and the communities they serve feel safe in their hands.