The police chief who believes arrests aren’t the key to fighting rising crime

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} “I am not in a place that’s just ‘lock everyone up’,” says Martin Hewitt, one of Britain’s most senior police chiefs. “The simple fact is that the services that are there to assist with that do not have the capacity, and then police officers turn up.” Mr Hewitt believes that to ultimately reduce the demand on Britain’s police, who have lost more than 20,000 officers since 2010, the drivers of crime need to be addressed. “It gives us a real opportunity about the kind of service we can create.” Mr Johnson was heavily criticised by some police officers for using new recruits as a backdrop for a political speech in September, sparking a row with West Yorkshire Police after the prime minister continued speaking despite a woman collapsing behind him. He admits that he was drawn into the armed forces as by the prospect of “action and adventure”, adding: “I did look at the police as well at the time but if I’m honest, as a 19-year-old, the army looked more fun.” Mr Hewitt trained at Sandhurst and served with the Royal Artillery for five years, but did not fight in a “proper war” and moved into policing in 1993.