A POLICE and crime commissioner whose force has seen a 15 per cent decline in frontline officers over the last decade has urged residents to consider the quality rather than quantity of community policing.

Launching a survey on neighbourhood policing, North Yorkshire’s commissioner Julia Mulligan said she expected residents to call for more bobbies on the beat, but there was more to effective community policing than simply being visible.

Mrs Mulligan’s comments follow concerns being raised that neighbourhood policing without sufficient officers was not giving the public the reassurance, interaction and engagement they wanted.

After being elected in 2012, she launched a four-year plan which stated: “Our police need to be more responsive, more visible and more accessible. It is only then that North Yorkshire residents will feel safe – and that is what I am here to deliver.”

At the neighbourhood policing survey launch in Harrogate yesterday, Mrs Mulligan said the force was now working on improving the visibility of officers in communities, but also in ways that did not require them to be visible. She said: “We have got the money that we have got and the question is how do we best make use of that money..”

Mrs Mulligan said it was important that residents voiced their views on the quality of local policing. The survey at telljulia.com, follows changes to the structure of neighbourhood police teams.

When asked if the number of visible police officers could be increased, she replied: “We have got the amount of police officers we have got so we better found out how we best use them.

“There are lots of things that North Yorkshire Police is doing to improve the visibility of police officers and I’m sure the public will come back and say that is one of their concerns.

“They have to balance things in local communities, there’s lots of stuff going on the internet and all sorts of stuff that doesn’t require visible policing presence nonetheless.”