Non-Subscriber Extract
Final salute
27 November 2008
I have been a police officer for just over 34 years. As I leave office, I am quite certain of three things.
First, the service that I leave is incomparably better than the one I joined. Second, the British police service provides a better service to its citizens than almost any other I have seen elsewhere in the world. Third, policing and crime have, in recent years, become issues of enormous political weight and media controversy.
Therefore, there is a danger in the years ahead that the ability to provide a first-class service may be threatened by the breaking down of political and media consensus.
Image: Sir Ian Blair speaks to Police Review (PA Photos)