THE leader of Darlington council has called for policing to be carried out within borough boundaries if a regional police force is created.

Councillor John Williams has written to the Durham Police Authority expressing the council's views on proposals to restructure the police to create a regional force serving the North-East.

In the letter, Coun Williams backs the Government's aim to reorganise the police to deal with serious crime and terrorism, but stresses that this should not be at the expense of local policing.

He has called for the local police structure to change, with the emphasis away from a police command based in south Durham, which he believes is too far removed from Darlington.

Coun Williams suggests the answer is to have local police, who would be part of a regional force, serving areas dictated by the borough boundaries rather than a larger area, such as south Durham.

He believes this system would allow the police to develop good community relations and identify possible problem areas and trends on the ground.

By bringing a command centre into the borough, officers would be more able to provide good neighbourhood policing as they would have the knowledge and expertise to deal with local community issues and sensitivities.

He said: "While there may be important developments in relation to serious crime and counter terrorism strategies, at a more grass roots level we are working to respond to fresh challenges and new opportunities.

"For example, the change to licensing is bringing fresh focus on the impact of drunkenness on our communities and town centre, while the need to combat anti-social behaviour remains in the top four priorities for improvements to services for local people."

In his letter, Coun Williams stresses this grassroots police work is not happening under the present structure because the Darlington officers are being led by people based outside the borough