It has to be said, the headline "Delight at 68 new front-line officers" in today's Evening Post was rather misleading, some might call it spin.
A cursory look at the Thames Valley Police Authority's press release reveals the actual number of additional Police officers the Berkshire West Basic Command Unit (BCU) is due to receive this year amounts to a slightly more modest, but nevertheless much needed extra 12 police officers for the Reading area.
What is clear that this is yet another sticking plaster solution, when what is needed is a substantial increase in Police numbers on the streets in Reading to reduce crime and importantly, fear of crime in the town
At a recent meeting of the North Whitley Neighbourhood Action Group (of which I am a member), residents complained that they rarely see the Police in their neighbourhood and if they do it is only to see them whizz past in their cars, not stopping.
This is hardly what we were promised by Jacqui Smith in her vision for Neighbourhood Policing, set out at last year's Labour Party conference.
In January, I outlined ways in which Neighbourhood Policing in Reading could be made to be more effective, including my call for more support for Neighbourhood Action Groups.
While Cllr Tony Page may cite "public pressure"for the increase in Police officers, the truth is it is the Lib Dems both locally and nationally who have been campaigning for more police on the streets.
Surely the fact that Thames Valley Police's council tax precept is going up 4.5%, putting Reading residents under yet more financial pressure, is not something that should be celebrated as a success by Labour politicians? Says something for their arrogance I suppose.
Local Tories have spent the majority of their time in recent months calling for more CCTV in Caversham. This is despite the fact that recent research by the Police themselves found that the massive increase CCTV in recent years has failed to cut crime.
In contrast, It has been Lib Dem national policy for many years to promise to scrap the government's costly ID card scheme in favour of spending public money on 10,000 more Police on the beat.
The issue of Police visibility on our streets is closely linked to the issue of crime reporting. I firmly believe that if people don't see Police in their area, they don't see the point of reporting crime.
I have led the campaign locally to improve the Council and Police response to crime reports by members of the public, after receiving a series of complaints from residents in Redlands about the service.
My campaign led last month to a visit by the Safer Reading Campaign (SRC) to Thames Valley Police's call centre in Kidlington. The visit was very revealing, not least as it highlighted the fact the problem was not necessarily with the technology or call-handlers dealing with calls but confusion between the Council and Police about sharing information.
Today's Evening Post picks up the story and the shocking admission bythe Labour Lead Member with responsibility for community safety, Cllr Bet Tickner, apparently "too busy to attend". It's not clear why Councillors Page and Ayub (Labour members on the SRC) failed to turn up.
I've since had checked and there were no council meetings that evening that would have prevented Cllr Tickner from supporting the small group of selfless residents who took time out on a freezing cold Thursday to raise directly their concerns with senior Police officers.
Unlike Reading's Labour politicians, those residents were a credit to the Town and their communities that night.
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