Yet more Safer Neighbourhood team success

The Putney SW15 website is carrying yet another report of success for Putney's Safer Neighbourhoods Police team: this time the West Putney officers smashing a drug den in Cortis Road.

I may sound like a cracked record flagging up the success story that is our Safer Neighbourhoods team - but at worst I'm guilty of trying to rebalance each and every attack on this significant, substantive service by the Conservatives. The Tories celebrate any tabloid story that belittles our SNTs and they never cease to rubbish them as not real Police because they believe it helps them politically.

I passionately believe in Safer Neighbourhood teams: I think they'll come to be regarded as this Labour Government's most significant creation.

No, they're not "full" Police. But I don't want them to be: they fulfil a different role and have a different emphasis. We once again have "Bobbies on the Beat" simply because of SNTs - not just uniformed patrollers pounding our pavements, but officers who take the time to get to know the community, build links and use their local knowledge to deliver the results we're hearing about week-in, week-out.

Some say: why couldn't they do that if they become full Police? My answer is that full Police will simply get swept up with and subsumed into the same duties that existing full Police fulfill today. Keeping the two distinct actually guarantees that we will keep our Bobbies on the Beat. And what a record of success they're delivering.