Pride and protests: Policing Cardiff

The man charged with protecting Wales's capital city is confident he can steer the police force to weather impending cuts, and keep crime figures low while he's at the helm. Chief Superintendent for Cardiff Bob Tooby, who took over from Josh Jones in March, is proud of recent statistics showing a 10% reduction in crime in the city and hopes to keep it that way. "It's the Welsh pride," he says. "Whether we're police officers or work for a local authority, we enjoy living in Wales and want to make it a nicer place for our families to grow up in and the communities we live in. I'm proud of the city and the more I hear what's going wrong, the more I do to rectify those problems." A Cardiff boy born and bred, Tooby grew up in the north of the city and it's clear his passion is his drive. Now aged 49, with two children grown up and home flown, the city is his priority. "I'm proud of Cardiff. I joined the police force to make a difference and I feel my officers are making a difference. "I want to work on the basis the work I'm doing with my partners and community is a well-oiled machine so someone else can easily step in. "To have 30 members of the home office and prime ministers delivery unit come to visit us shows they think it's best practise. It shows it's not superficial in Cardiff it's real." Tooby admits he is in the envious position of having people come up to him in the pub and congratulate him as opposed to moaning about problems. If the latest crime figures for the last three months were projected onto the rest of the year, there will be a 6,020 reduction in the number of crime victims from 2009-2010. But Tooby is quick to spread out the praise. He says: "It's not just a police centric success but a city-wide success. My staff have worked extremely hard. Mobile data means officers don't have to return to the station – but then we have to get round visibility. They look like they're texting on their phones – but they can immediately check out people and vehicles and the history. "We are a lot more intelligence driven and we are responding to what the public asking us to do. We've improved faster than any other force across the country." What does he think has kept figures low since he took the post? "I talk to most members of the public and anti-social behaviour and visibility and confidence is high on their agenda. We tell them exactly what will happen and don't give them false promises. We let them know if it's a low priority call and then we're freed up to follow emergency calls. "When I came into the post one of the key objectives was anti-social behaviour and we're down 26% from last year. We are going in the right direction and we've got a firm action plant to take that to a better level." Police officer and police station cuts Despite worries over impending service cuts for the police force, Tooby is confident the good reputation of Cardiff as a safe city can be maintained. Read our report yesterday on his hopes for front line services to be protected. But he is realistic some parts of the service will have to go. One money-draining institution will be the small police stations dotted around the city. It has already been on the cards for Cathays, Roath and Canton police stations to be closed – and although no date is set, Tooby says people must realise the stations are using up valuable resources. He said: "We're not going to be closing them in the next three months, but it's inevitable some will close down. "If you look at our estate we do have a lot of stations that are very close to each other. The public invariable respond by telephone now and we can make efficiency gains by closing the police stations – I think it's essential we do to save money for the community while retaining some presence in those areas such as a shop front or sharing a premises with the local authority we will do so. We'll never pull out of an area completely. "Research shows only a couple of people come into the stations between 6pm and midnight. Would the public prefer to see an officer behind the desk or them walking up and down their street? My guess is they would prefer to see them walking up and down their street." Tooby wants to shift the focus onto channelling resources where they are needed in terms of officers on the streets. He says: "In any organisation you take risks. If we're not having crime in a particular area we might not patrol that area as much as other areas – but if there was a spate of crimes in that area we would respond to it. We have well trained analysts who can predict what problem we'll get and what times they will occur. "We've changed shift patterns enables us to be intelligence led at key times – so we'll have more officers on duty at the right times – we still cover 24/7 but we're driven by intelligence, the amount of calls we receive and the calender." Tooby also said the police are conducting surveys on partnerships and communities meetings across the city to see if they will be viable for the future. He said: "I'm confident we've got the full support to invest in the front line. Support services are important. But the front line is essential and the front line is what the public see." Working closer with minority communities Tooby is particularly pleased with the good relations built up through the Aamir Siddiqi murder case in April. "To work with Aamir's family I was humbled – I've never had such an experience. Every murder is tragic but they worked with us. It was perceived as a minority community issue but they had faith in the police and let us carry on with the investigation – it was an honour. "We dealt with many different communities across the cities there and they all rallied together for the common purpose. The social capital we've built up as a result, it's actually done the community of Cardiff an awful lot of good." Tooby's task for the future Admitting he's also a golfer on the side, it's unfortunate Tooby may be too busy policing Cardiff to get involved in the event. But as the ever-expanding city continues to pose a challenge to the force, Tooby won't see crime increase in Cardiff on his watch. "Cardiff has iconic world stage events, we have a predicted population of more than 300,000 but we have students and other people travelling into the city from elsewhere. "Cardiff continues to be the fastest growing city across Europe. We've got the Ryder Cup meaning VIPs will stay here and the Olympics and future European summits on the radar. Long may the city grow in prosperity but it's vitally important that as the population grows people feel safe. I can confidently say whilst I'm here crime is going down tremendously." What do you think about crime in Cardiff and the Chief Super's comments? Leave your own comments below.