I WENT to a retirement do the other day and it brought memories flooding back.

It was to say farewell to Sgt Steve Blair, the man who has worked brilliantly and tirelessly in the child protection unit for more years than he cares to remember. He was a copper from the old school.

There were some other former officers there from the same stable as Steve, again coppers who had spent their lives policing the streets and bringing criminals to justice.

How times change.

The role of the modern-day policeman, especially senior officers, is vastly different.

Now it is about working in partnership with other public bodies, statistics, being forced to pander to Home Office initiatives, customer care and public confidence ratings.

I spotted a story in one of the national newspapers the other day which claimed police had even been told not to use the 'C' word when they talked to the public.

Evidently, a new Home Office directive has told officers to play down the risk of crime because it may worry the public and give the police a bad name.

Apparently, the Home Office now marks the police on a 'public confidence' measure. It's all about making sure the 'fear of crime' is reduced to make residents feel safer.

One former police officer who spent more than three decades in the Devon and Cornwall force has seen times change.

He says: "When I joined the police you policed the streets. You made arrests and got offenders to court. There our responsibility stopped.

"The core purpose of the policeman is the prevention and detection of crime.

"Detection is about getting out there and finding who is doing it. Prevention is about giving advice but more importantly it should be about having a presence on the streets.

"Now it is all politics.

"Where have all the policemen gone? They have gone to departments that bureaucrats have given us to feed them with statistics to tell the public it is all wonderful.

"It is all about finance and targets. It is all Home Office driven.

"We have senior officers who are here just for five minutes and then they are off up the ladder.

"They are in charge of budgets and go to meetings. They don't want to rock the boat.

"In the last 10 or 12 years we have lost the plot."

Let me emphasise, Torbay is one of the safest places to live in the UK. Crime is no worse than anywhere else and the police do a marvellous job and the majority of people will say that without official, pointless and costly, confidence league tables.

It must also be said you can't blame officers who are forced to follow this and that process and tick this and that box.

The emphasis may now be on the Home Office, politicians, rankings, safer communities and patting each other on the back. And, yes, if they keep telling themselves enough times they are doing a good job — and have the statistics to prove it — they will eventually believe it.

But there is somebody out there who ain't going to be fooled. The public.