Merseyside’s Chief Constable, Bernard Hogan- Howe, is leaving after five years in the post. He tells Ben Rossington of the highs and lows

FROM a first-floor window looking out across the Albert Dock and south down the river, Merseyside’s departing police chief has had a prime view of Liverpool’s ever-changing scenery.

Since he landed the top job in 2004, Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe has seen the city and the outlying region change beyond all recognition.

And, in his five years in charge, he has seen his force rise to the top, with massive reductions in crime, significant seizures from criminals and a recent major vote of confidence from the people they serve. Now, as he prepares to head to London to take up a post with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the police watchdog, Mr Hogan-Howe says Merseyside has a lot to be proud of and he envisages great things for the future.

He said: “The investment in the city and the area has been incredible. With Liverpool One, we now have a true city centre with fantastic shopping, entertainment and leisure facilities. It is an amazing sight to see the cruise liners sail up the river and dock at the new terminal with people who got on in America stepping off right in the city centre and being able to enjoy all that is on offer.

“And when you look over from the Wirral at the ever-changing skyline of the city, from the new skyscrapers at the north end down to the Albert Dock, it is a fantastic view. This city is well primed for the future, and I am certain it will rise through whatever the current recession may throw at us.”

He added: “When I look back to the city I came into five years ago, it is a complete transformation and there is now great confidence for the future. I used to look out of my window and see the odd tourist walking past, but now there are big groups everywhere. People want to come to Liverpool and enjoy it when they do.

“Capital of Culture had a lot to do with that. A lot of things came together to make it a success and leave a legacy. All of the building projects seemed to finish in time and the city had a new, modern feel to it. A lot of people in the past have had a negative view of the area, but my view is they are people who have never been here.

“2008 made them take another look at the city and challenged their prejudices.

“In turn, it increased the confidence of people in the area. I have challenged my own staff and other people when they go outside Merseyside to promote a positive image. People undersell themselves and their area too much. It is almost a defence mechanism that they will make jokes and degrade the area before someone else does.

“The same happened in New York. It went from being a grimy, crime-ridden awful place to a destination everyone now wants to visit and when the mayor was asked what had changed, he said the change came when New Yorkers stopped putting themselves and their city down. I feel it is very much the same here.

“One and a half million people should be talking about how good Merseyside is, they should be shouting about it and have confidence in it, because this is a great city and a great area.”

Earlier this year, the Home Office changed the way they rated the UK’s 43 police forces. Instead of relying on the notoriously dubious and ever- changing crime statistics, they asked the public for their confidence levels in their local police. Merseyside police came out of the survey on top.

AS WELL as getting the big things, like solving major crimes and cutting overall crime levels, Mr Hogan-Howe believes it is the smaller things, like answering the phone in a minimum time, that make an everyday difference.

He said: “It is always difficult to come out and proclaim that you are the best, it is more for other people to say, but I think we have a lot of indicators saying we are the best. We have reduced crime by the most in the country, reducing it by a third over three years, which is a huge drop, so something must be going right.

“Anti-social behaviour is down by a third, we are one of the few forces to be able to say we have reduced that, our criminal asset seizures are the most in the country per head of population, and in the last two weeks a review into police investigations of murder and serious and organised crime gave us an excellent rating, putting us in the top four in the country for that.

“When I arrived in 2004, we were 42nd out of 43 forces in terms of answering the phone and responding to incidents.

“We were only answering the phone quick enough 50% of the time. Now it is 94% and we are second best of all the forces. Things like that make a massive difference.

“And we are one of only a couple of forces who are actually increasing the number of police officers. Together with the Police Authority, during my time we have increased the number of front-line officers by 9%, which equates to around 360 extra officers.