One of the tasks of any local MP is to keep in regular touch with the local police force.

I frequently find that a word in the ear of the local inspector will help to resolve particular problems of anti-social behaviour and the like before they become too serious – and they are also a very valuable two-way exchange of information about patterns of crime when they develop in particular parts of West Dorset.

As a result of regular and continuing contacts of this sort over many years, I have developed a very considerable respect for our local force.

This has been, if anything, enhanced by discussions over recent years – most recently, during this last week – with the people leading the Dorset Police and indeed with our local Police and Crime Commissioner.

My sense is that we are in the hands of men and women of real quality who have the interests of our rural communities and of our towns at heart, and who have done a really rather excellent job of maintaining high quality services to the public at the same time as reducing costs very considerably.

It has become fashionable recently to cast aspersions about the police, but I have to say that I have seen nothing over the past 17 years in West Dorset, and certainly nothing in recent years to justify such cynicism.

I suppose it doesn’t make for a good story, but the fact is that, as far as I can see, the police officers we deal with, right the way from the frontline to the top of the force, are exactly the kind of people one would want to have doing these vital jobs, and they are doing them in a highly professional manner.