Police

Labour has pledged to hire more community police, Sounds like a good idea so Ill have a closer look

"The crime rate for 2004 was 21.8 per cent lower than it was in 1996."

Good work labour - of course much of this may be due to good economic times.

"The resolution rate for all recorded crime is now 44.6 per cent - the best resolution rate since 1987."

This is also good - although still doesn’t sound good in absolute terms.

"In 1999, we pledged to crack down on burglary. We have achieved that."

Cripes - they could have fooled me - all I know is that if someone steals something from your house no one comes to check anymore. Maybe they are just playing with statistics here.

"In 2002, we pledged tougher sentences for the most serious offenders."

This is just knee-jerk politics - the police system should try to achieve something such as reductions in crime not just increased spending on prisons.

Overall a slight improvement on the current situation. Generally I have a positive view of this