麻豆约拍

With policing top of the political agenda, and major change on the way, Mark Easton asks what we want from our police.

Mark spends time with police officers doing jobs as diverse as roads policing, neighbourhood policing and monitoring sex offenders to paint a picture of how we are policed in 2012 and examine whether the daily reality matches the political rhetoric. And he speaks to politicians, academics and the public to assess whether what we are getting is what we want.

In this final programme, he explores the relationship between the police and other agencies. Could other agencies take over some responsibilities from an overburdened police service? Do the police spend too much time, in the words of one critic, acting as social workers rather than rat-catchers? How well is the criminal justice system joined up?

Producer: Giles Edwards.