New police chief vows to prioritise public trust

Rob Carden, who is from Liverpool, was chief constable of Cumbria Police

Merseyside's new chief constable said he would prioritise increasing public trust in his force and seek to focus on neighbourhood policing.

Rob Carden, who was chief constable of Cumbria Police for two years, has returned to his native Merseyside, where he started his policing career in 1992, following in his father's footsteps.

Despite facing the need to make £31m in cuts over the next five years, Mr Carden said the public would not see fewer officers on the streets.

"The cornerstone of policing for me is neighbourhood policing and there are already plans to increase that," he said.

"The priority is going to be increasing public trust and confidence across communities in Merseyside," he told the BBC.

"The backdrop to that is the need to save £31m over the next four to five years.

"So what we're looking at is trying to improve performance and build public trust and confidence at a time when we've got to take a considerable amount of money out of the organisation.

"That's going to be a huge challenge, at the same time when I know public trust and confidence is dependent upon an effective neighbourhood policing model."

'Tackling anti-social behaviour'

Mr Carden said it was essential to be clear about the force's biggest priorities.

"There's great work going on across Merseyside but we're going to have to make some really difficult decisions about what stays, what goes, what changes," he said.

The new chief constable said tackling anti-social behaviour was very important.

"If you leave those, it just flowers like a weed, that's the problem.

"It can't be left because it morphs into something more serious and actually anti-social behaviour is something that really blights people's lives and has a massive impact on whether they have the trust and confidence for policing.

"And so it has to be taken seriously."

Mr Carden replaces Serena Kennedy, who held the post of chief constable for the past four years.