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Opinions split over legacy as Speed-cop Brunstrom retires
Jul 11 2009 by Darren Devine, Western Mail

Labelled the Mad Mullah of the Traffic Taliban by some, Britain’s most outspoken policeman Richard Brunstrom retired yesterday. Darren Devine assesses the legacy and impact of the man who confidently ‘ploughed his own furrow’
IN keeping with the tenor of his time in the job Richard Brunstrom retired as Chief Constable of North Wales yesterday in controversial fashion – claiming to have cut crime by almost 50%.
His critics immediately branded the claim “rubbish”, before saying that aside from expanding the use of technology Mr Brunstrom had done little or nothing to improve policing in the region.
Mr Brunstrom himself said he was looking forward to selling “everything” and going sailing with his wife.
The 54-year-old, who applied unsuccessfully to become the commissioner of the Cayman Islands, said he regretted that at times the media has focused on him rather than the topics he was trying to raise.
He said: “I feel we’ve had a very successful period and have the results to show for it, with crime down significantly by nearly 50%.”

However official figures show crime was lower in the year before Mr Brunstrom took up his position in early 2001 than now.
In 1999-2000 there were 44,477 offences compared with 46,058 in 2008-09.
North Wales Police say the two figures cannot be compared because in 2002-03 the Home Office issued new recording guidelines that saw crime rise nationwide.
But either way the figures for recorded crime nowhere show a drop of anything approaching 50%. Even when taken from their 2002-03 peak of 64,977 offences to current levels the drop is 29% – way short of Mr Brunstrom’s claim.
Asked by the Western Mail how he arrived at the near 50% figure Mr Brunstrom yesterday declined to comment.
Mike Cross, from campaign group People for Proper Policing, said: “What crime is he talking about? Knife crime, domestic abuse, rape and sexual abuse have increased dramatically.

“It’s just a load of rubbish. Petty vandalism has risen and the detection rate is down – in other words he’s cherry picking.”

But in fact the figures show the overall sanctioned detection rate (the proportion of offenders caught and punished) has improved under Mr Brunstrom from 27.4% when he took up his post to 42.5% now.
On roads policing the chief constable, who in 2007 apologised to the family of dead biker Mark Gibney after showing images of his decapitated body to a group of journalists, also claimed success.
He said: “This is a serious issue and too many people are being injured on our roads.
“Still, the figures in Britain, and locally, are the lowest they’ve been since the 1920s. That’s success any which way you look at it, but there’s still more to do.”
Here Mr Brunstrom’s claims seem to be borne out by the figures – North Wales’ road deaths have fallen from a high of 60 in 2000 to 40 in 2008, which works out as a reduction of a third, in under 10 years.

However given the figures have been falling across the UK, as Mr Brunstrom acknowledges, it’s difficult to say how far the success in North Wales was due to his enthusiasm for pursuing speeding motorists.
RoadPeace spokeswoman Cynthia Barlow praised Mr Brunstrom for raising the issue’s profile and said over the past 10 years deaths in the UK have fallen from around 4,000 per year to about 2,500.
She said: “People tend to forget the issue of road deaths and we need people who are willing to stick their neck out and advocate a tougher response.
“He has given the issue a higher profile and when families are bereaved by a road crash they feel less marginalised if people are speaking openly.”
Head of Road Safety with AA Public Affairs Andrew Howard feels Mr Brunstrom’s passion for the issue has persuaded motorists to drive more carefully.
He said: “What I have to remember is that we’ve never got an AA poll on the acceptability of speed cameras to come out at less than 69%.
“If that’s the case then it may well be that he’s raised public awareness, even it has been by getting himself a pretty unhealthy press at times.”
In terms of a successor the deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire Howard Roberts has applied for the post, while reports have also suggested the acting chief of Staffordshire Adrian Lee is also in the running.
Mr Brunstrom’s advice to his successor is: “Do your own thing. Plough your own furrow. Be your own person.”

In terms of a successor the deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire Howard Roberts has applied for the post, while reports have also suggested the acting chief of Staffordshire Adrian Lee is also in the running.

Staffordshire has more speed cameras than most places I know, probably more than most places in the country. All the speed limits seem to be dropping to 40/50MPH even on dual carriageways....it doesn't hold much hope for Wales.

Well, it does if you're interested in reducing the number of crashes and the severity of crashes.

Do you have any evidence to suggest that has been the case though?

So it's come to answering difficult questions with questions, eh, weeps?

I'm not proud.

Where's the evidence that reducing limits from NSL to 50 is causing more crashes?

You ought to be concerned that any policy or law is based on proper research before it is introduced.

Was the current NSL limit being 60 based on proper research?

Good riddance to bad rubbish, if I may say so from all the way over here. Congratulations to all of you.

What, if anything, is known of Howard Roberts, and/or Adrian Lee? What sort of track record do they have? How have they behaved in the past regarding matters of our concern?

...they are English, so I'm against both of them. There's plenty of good coppers in Wales, and we don't want foreign cops
taking the top jobs. Welsh jobs for Welsh workers, I say.

If you came to England, for work or any other reason, I'd like to think you would be welcome with open arms.