The new chief constable of Durham Constabulary was yesterday named as the current deputy, Paul Garvin. He tells Sarah Foster about his vision for the future of policing in the county.

A BRIEF perusal of Deputy Chief Constable Paul Garvin's history, as reported in The Northern Echo, throws up an incident that seems to typify his approach.

In September 1995, when he was a superintendent for Cleveland Police, several of his colleagues found themselves at the centre of an anti-social behaviour incident when a gang of youths began pelting their Hartlepool office with bricks and stones.

At the office's official opening, Supt Garvin made his attitude to such behaviour clear with the unequivocal message: "We are here to stay." While acknowledging that the area had a "fair degree of intimidation and anti-social behaviour by a small hard core", he showed he was determined to fight for a better neighbourhood for the majority.

Over the years, this tough, no-nonsense approach helped him advance rapidly through the ranks. He became head of Hartlepool CID, being succeeded by Ray Mallon in 1994, before being appointed Hartlepool commander and head of the human resources department. He was appointed deputy chief constable of Durham in March 2000, and currently leads on video identification parades for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Mr Mallon went on to achieve notoriety for his "zero tolerance" policy, winning widespread acclaim for reducing crime on Teesside, then being suspended for alleged misconduct, before finally regaining power as Middlesbrough's first directly-elected mayor.

But, while Mr Garvin's fortunes have been less dramatic, he has attracted some controversy. Last year, he was among those named in an action brought by multi-millionaire and Darlington football boss George Reynolds, who sued Cleveland Police's Chief Constable Barry Shaw for alleged wrongful arrest, unlawful detention and malicious prosecution. After Mr Reynolds lost his case, Mr Garvin launched a blistering attack on the chipboard magnate, claiming that, if he had not had the court's protection, he would have sued him back.

The man I meet fresh from hearing the news of his appointment seems a different person from this tough-talking character. He appears calm and relaxed, particularly for one who has just endured a week of interviews, and is clearly delighted that he has got the job. An indication that the news will be welcomed by the force as a whole is given by the fact that current chief constable George Hedges is the first to ring to congratulate him.

When asked about his priorities for the future of policing in County Durham, he is keen to acknowledge what has already been achieved. "I've been used to working for a force that's been achieving great things over the last few years, particularly being the only force that had an HMI report last year that didn't have any recommendations in it, which was a tremendous accolade," he says.

"I'm very proud to continue down that road of excellence. It really is a good force and it's an absolute thrill being chosen to lead it. The strength of Durham Constabulary has been in doing the right thing in the right way, and we have a philosophy that's based on continuous improvement and aiming for excellence. We can always do things better, but I'm not looking for any radical change in direction, that's for sure."

Mr Hedges will retire at the end of September after five years as chief constable, with Mr Garvin expected to take over the £98,000-a-year job in October. He beat off competition from four other candidates and had to impress a firm of private consultants as well as the police authority to secure it.

A North-East man born and bred, he has served in the region for most of his career, and originally applied to Durham Constabulary for his first job, but was turned down because the force was only recruiting its own cadets at the time, so went to Cleveland.

Knowing the area and its people, he believes their main concern, far from headline-making crime, is low category offences and anti-social behaviour, which he aims to address as chief constable. "The main thing I want to focus on is to try and encourage the force to become even better at dealing with local community problems," he says. "By that, I mean all the nuisances, anti-social behaviour and low-level crime that affects so many people. I want to continue the investment in community beat officers who work very closely with local communities, and I want to see a greater investment in front line policing."

The force has already made recruiting more officers a priority, and aims to have a total of 1,672 by next March, but this has not prevented a rise in the number of burglaries, as revealed in the latest Government crime figures.

According to Mr Garvin, the situation is not as bad as elsewhere, but he acknowledges that, from a victim's point of view, burglary is among the worst of crimes. "It's a crime that has the most damaging effect on people so it's always one of the force's objectives to try and drive down burglary, and we've been really successful in the past few years," he says.

"The fear of crime is a real issue for Durham. We have a really low crime rate but the public perception is that it is quite high. People's fear of crime is related to what they see, feel and hear, and sometimes graffiti and damage affects the way in which people think."

In striving to win public confidence, the 53-year-old father of two grown-up children, who lives with his wife Margaret in County Durham, must have some sympathy with Home Secretary David Blunkett, who provoked a storm this week by downgrading cannabis to a class C drug. He acknowledges that striking the right balance is difficult when it comes to the thorny issue of drugs. "It's a very complex subject," he says. "That's why we need a public debate to ask which way we should be heading. At the moment, I think the Government is sending out confusing signals.

"There isn't a simple answer, that's for sure."

But despite the confusion, Mr Garvin believes reclassification will make little difference to the drugs problem. "I'm not a doom and gloom merchant," he says. "It will probably have little or no impact on the streets of County Durham and Darlington." Whether this prediction, or Mr Garvin's views on what matters most to the people he must answer to will be borne out, only time will tell.