Home secretary, Jacqui Smith, has urged police forces to ‘go local' in the battle to overcome public fear of crime – by asking them to meet just one national target. Ms Smith has asked forces to meet just one Whitehall benchmark in future – to raise public confidence by 15%. The idea is that increased public confidence within localities will reflect forces' ability to tackle local crime and anti-social behaviour. Public confidence in policing is currently low, at 46%, but Ms Smith has demanded it must increase to above 60% by 2012. Confirming the target, first outlined in a Green Paper last summer, Ms Smith said: ‘I am committed to ensuring police forces are working with local crime-fighting partners to deal with the crime and anti-social behaviour issues which matter most to communities.'
