PEOPLE have complained about the lack of bobbies on the beat for years.

"We never see a policeman around here," is the regular lament.

Why? Because a lack of resources meant manpower had to be concentrated where it was most needed through intelligence-led policing, we were told.

There was also an implication that our clamour for beat patrols was little more than a nostalgic yearning for a golden age that never existed.

Things are changing. Resources have increased. North Yorkshire police numbers have risen, and an extra £600,000 has been invested into the fight against crime.

And now there is an acknowledgement that beat bobbies are an essential part of the police service.

Several events this year may have prompted this change in thinking. The failure of York police to respond to an ongoing act of vandalism in the summer was one. Another was the experience of a Selby businessman who was unable to raise a police officer until 40 minutes after he was robbed.

These incidents demonstrate how thin the blue line remains, even with the new resources. More critically, it has led the public to believe, in the words of one concerned source, that the police are on the retreat. That is a dangerous perception.

Target-led policing has scored a number of successes, notably against the major scourge of society, the drug dealers. But the withdrawal of officers to carry out this work has left the police somewhat insulated from the day-to-day problems of the people they serve, and encouraged the anti-social element.

The need for a return to certain old fashioned methods was recognised in York by the Police On Doorsteps initiative, launched in July. And today it was revealed that community officers will begin to patrol their own patches from April.

This is welcome. A visible, neighbourhood police presence will reassure the public, deter the street criminal and help to restore faith and respect in the force.

If the police have been on the retreat, this move signals their advance.

Updated: 12:14 Monday, December 23, 2002