As a member involved with the oversight of the City of London Police, as well as being a Police Tribunal Legally Qualified Chair I'm always interested in what is happening in policing.

On Thursday I was lucky to have time talking to the Essex Police Fire and Crime Commissioner as well as the Home Secretary.

Our conversation was wide ranging but as she had just launched her common sense policing plan much of what I learnt was about that. As the Home Secretary explained:

It is in line with what she described the Public Safety Foundation seek to achieve. They are committed to making the UK the safest place to live, work, and raise a family.

The Home Secretary then explained that the focus for our police officers must be about fighting crime, catching criminals, and keeping the public safe.

She expanded to explain that common sense policing means more police on our streets and a better police culture with higher standards.  I very much want to hear more about this given my roles over the years in looking at standards.

I also heard that there would be more measuring of the police on outputs such as public response times, crimes solved, and criminals arrested.

I hope we all see improvements as a result of this intention.