IN his latest column, Durham Police Chief Constable Mike Barton talks Breakfast, bicycles and Brexit

A COUPLE of weeks ago I was interviewed on Radio 5 Live by Anna Foster and then the following day on BBC Breakfast, after the publication of a National Audit Office review of police funding which was critical of the way the Home Office has approached this thorny issue.

The Breakfast interview went quite well, as with all one’s appearances on the telly they are over in the blink of an eye. I think I managed to answer three or four questions and not come across as a complete halfwit.

Let’s unpick the Radio 5 Live conversation. Anna had invited me to talk about why Durham Constabulary is so well regarded. Off air, she said she wanted a lively conversational style and she’d listened to some of my interviews on North-East radio stations. I wanted to make clear that there are several issues that make Durham different. I know this to be the case because of what independent people tell me: a common refrain is “it feels different here”. In effect, we encourage our staff to enjoy themselves at work and if anything is irritating them then either fix it or ignore it.

I have listened to the interview since and I am content that I managed to convey that sense of freeing people up to do the right thing and not be constrained by rules or bureaucracy. Anna Foster was really pleased with the way it went and extended the interview for a further 15 minutes.

My quiet satisfaction with the success of the interview came to a stuttering halt when someone pointed out the Twittersphere.

Radio 5 Live repeated bits of the conversation with added video footage on the internet. One particular section captured a lot of attention. I think they call it trending in the business.

I made the point that Durham was doing well because, when things go wrong, I get rid of policies rather than create them. I explained this seemingly counterintuitive response by pointing out that policies are usually too long so people can’t remember them and therefore don’t follow them; policies should describe what you do rather than be aspirational; policies are usually used to judge people who may have made a mistake.

Anna asked me for an example – the one that came to mind was a policy presented to me in 2008 when I first arrived in Durham, designed to describe how police officers should ride bicycles whilst on duty. A sergeant had been tasked with writing this because he was a keen cyclist.

I chaired the meeting which discussed this proposed policy, which ran to nearly 40 pages. On page 32 there was a section describing how bicycles should not be used as police pursuit vehicles. Whilst the policy had been well researched and well written, it wasn’t going to encourage officers to get out of cars and ride bicycles – which was the original intention.

I did not allow the policy to be adopted and thanked the sergeant for his time, but said all that was needed would be two or three lines encouraging staff to take the Cycling Proficiency Test if they felt nervous riding a bike and if they were still nervous then don’t ride, but walk or use a police car. I tried to be humorous, which is my normal style, and said something amusing, but mildly disparaging about Lycra and how I don’t suit it.

On the radio, I advised anyone running an organisation not to commission single issue zealots to write policies because they will always write them in an aspirational style ie what we should be doing rather than what we actually are. Wow. People didn’t like the phrase single issue zealots. This is what generated all the heat and the opprobrium in the Twittersphere.

“The worst kind of bully. Not just slapping down the people who work for him when they come up with something innovative, but humiliating them in public. Classic nightmare boss. How on earth was he put in charge of the safety of the people of Durham? And there was me thinking dinosaurs were extinct. Bet he voted for Brexit.”

Moorscram had a slightly different take: “Out of curiosity do any of those foaming at the mouth a) think anyone bothered to read and abide by a 30-page document on riding a bike b) think authoring a 30-page document on riding a bike is a good use of a police sergeant’s time c) realise this is damaging the police.” Tazman was funnier, but I can’t use it all! “Load of bike ***** giving off stink. The cc isn’t saying don’t use bikes, he’s saying don’t write a b**** rule book to use ‘em. Loosen the Lycra you *****. Well done Mr Barton, very refreshing to have such an attitude put forward”.

So, you can’t win them all and whatever medium one uses there’s always a downside. My favourite form of getting my message across, well it’s having a chat or even writing a newspaper column.

By the way, I did not vote for Brexit.