Lonely times ahead for all future patrols

David Hanson, police minister, told Police Review he would like to see officers in all forces in England and Wales patrolling alone, wherever possible, in a move he said would increase confidence in the police and enhance intelligence.

Mr Hanson, speaking after the launch of the government's Safe and confident neighbourhoods strategy: Next steps in neighbourhood policing, launched on Monday, told Police Review: 'Our expectation is that we will look at greater use of single patrolling.'

The Met has come under fire from some officers for introducing single patrols (PR, 5 February), but when asked if the government would like to see the measure introduced in all forces, Mr Hanson said 'yes'.

He said: 'I want to see as much as possible the development of single patrolling, with the caveat that these are operational decisions for local police officers that they must take risk assessments and they must ensure the safety of officers in the communities that they patrol.

'Having said that, I think we need to look more at how we can develop single patrolling because it equals more visibility, greater coverage, more reassurance and increased confidence in policing. So where that can be risk assessed, I think that we need to encourage it further and the Prime Minister said, and I concur, that single patrolling should be the norm unless there are risk assessments or strict operational reasons why they should not be.'