Behind Sir Kenneth's comment-restrained by the neutral stand that he must take - is a justified fear about the future of an effective and independent police force in our society and about a sustained campaign to undermine police authority and morale, to engineer a Crisis in Policing and, thereby, to justify assuming political control over the essential elements of police operations, administration and finance.

Sir John Stevens, the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, talked only last month of a Crisis in the Policing of London.