Chief Constable annual lecture

A packed theatre listened to Sir Jon Murphy QPM deliver his third state of the city lecture, which this year focused on the future of neighbourhood policing. The event was organised by the Liverpool Centre for Advanced Policing Studies. 

Sir Jon initially prepared his lecture in response to what he thought would be a negative comprehensive spending review for English police forces, but in light of fewer spending cuts in this round, he decided to focus on people's perceptions of neighbourhood policing. He discussed the notion of whether the force can afford visible neighbourhood policing, particularly in light of previous spending cuts which have led to Merseyside having 1,600 fewer police officers than five years ago. Sir Jon shared with the audience the day-to-day experiences of the typical neighbourhood police officer, and spoke at length about the challenges, old and new, which face Merseyside’s police force. These include drugs raids and control and a 38% increase in the numbers of reported sexual offences, modern slavery, people trafficking and female genital mutilation. 

The police force responded to nearly 600,000 999 calls last year, and each call has to be answered in a professional manner, followed up and, if necessary, investigated.

The talk was attended by police officers, Chief Constables from Derbyshire and North Wales, students, Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside, Jane Kennedy, and members of the general public. 

Pictured left to right are Mark Polin, Chief Constable of North Wales; Prof Ahmed Al-Shamma'a, Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology; Mike Creedon, Chief Constable of Derbyshire Police; Stephen Moss, Head of Academic Programmes, LCAPS; Jane Kennedy, Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner; Sir Jon Murphy; Professor Nigel Weatherill; Dr Joe Yates, Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts, Professional and Social Studies.