Lord Stevens: We must bring back neighbourhood policing That is why, when I was asked if I wanted to lead an Independent Commission into the future of policing, free of political ties and with a mandate to go into every area of policing, I didn't hesitate. Because now, more than ever, a Royal Commission is needed. To help me, I've had 47 scholars from 28 different universities. Leaders in business, counter-terrorism and intelligence, the former heads of Europol and Interpol, community leaders, victims" advocates, judicial leaders, former commissioners of police in London and Boston, and prosecutors from New York and the UK have provided invaluable advice. We surveyed 32,000 members of the police workforce, 2,000 members of the public, held radio phone-ins, analysed more than a quarter of a million words in evidence and submissions, surveyed police and crime commissioners, held regional hearings, and will publish 31 papers from 29 academic institutions as a separate academic book. Our Commission has looked at how we can change policing to keep a community-based approach, stopping what we see as the risk of beating a retreat from the beat. We have looked at standards, effectiveness, and professional skills so every officer can tackle what are no longer "specialist crimes," such as crime online. We have looked at governance, structures and accountability, and will make recommendations on each aspect tomorrow. But neighbourhood policing is the golden thread that runs through it all, and is foremost in my mind to secure a service fit for the 21st century. However, other reforms have been fragmented and unfocused. Nobody seems to have asked the question: what should the future of policing be? Policing is more than just reacting to things going wrong for people and catching the criminals who have wronged society. We see it every day when there are major car accidents or big public-order events. But the police are there to help prevent crime, too. That means being visible in the community, making people feel safer, and making communities stronger and more resistant to crime and disorder. It's about making our communities and our society a better place. Police aren't ambulances that arrive just when something has gone wrong. They have a civic role in protecting the safety and well-being of the public. I've policed and fought crime for the majority of my life. I have seen government ministers come and go, often pursuing a way of policing to match the mood. So our Commission considers it is time to bring clarity and stability to a broader social mission for the police. The police are more than just crime fighters; rather, their civic purpose is focused on improving safety and well-being within communities and promoting measures to prevent crime, harm and disorder. One of our 37 recommendations will be that the social purpose of the police should be enshrined in law, thereby helping to bring much-needed consensus to the question of what we expect the police to do, and anchoring the service in stormy seas. Our vision is of a police service with a social purpose that combines catching offenders with work to prevent crime and promote and maintain order in our communities. The Commission believes that a government should introduce a Local Policing Commitment so every community has a guaranteed level of neighbourhood policing. That commitment should also guarantee appropriate response times and always to investigate crime or explain why an investigation ceased. This is the level of service that the public has a right to expect, but that has deteriorated in front of its eyes. In 2004, the people I was responsible for, the millions of Londoners, were unequivocal in telling us that they wanted real, community-based policing, providing local solutions to local problems. They wanted to know their police officers and see them around their neighbourhood. Nearly a decade later, people across England and Wales still want those things, and it's important they have them. The police also need the technology to do the job. They need to be mobile, working and learning at the same pace as society. My old colleague Denis O'Connor put it well. There was a time an ambulance crew only aimed to get somebody to a hospital as soon as possible. Now it can do minor surgery on the street or on the way to A&E. The police need similarly to be able to deal with crime, receiving and sending intelligence on the move and eliminating people from their inquiries. And we are no longer able to improve policing by spending more money on the police service. That path has been closed off. Given this, the Commission has taken great care to develop a vision of better policing - and a set of practical proposals - that do not require additional resources. That means the police must save time and money, particularly by improving their effectiveness with other actors in the criminal justice system. The Commission recommends that all forces should move rapidly towards enabling the electronic submission of case files to courts and prosecutors. We need a national procurement strategy co-ordinated by the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office for IT and non-IT consumables. And the Commission identifies swift savings of more than £60 million to 2016/17, including by paying the lowest prices for five types of common equipment. While Commissioner of the Met, a key theme of my leadership was New Challenges, New Thinking. We've done a lot of thinking over the past two years to meet the challenges that policing is facing. My belief in policing as an essential public service remains what it was when I first walked the beat off the Tottenham Court Road in 1962. Lord Stevens was head of the Metropolitan Police from 2000 to 2005