In GMP, we start with about 8,000 officers but then they need to be spread across 24 hours and seven days a week. We have to cover the 10 districts or boroughs in Greater Manchester including our two cities.

We look at the demand for policing very closely including the pattern for when crimes and anti-social behaviour occur, when we get most calls from the public, and we deploy our staff accordingly. We have taken officers out of cars and vans so that we have more in local neighbourhood policing teams. At the same time it is true that we have more officers in specialist roles.

The publicity surrounding the report gave the impression that the most important thing the police do is to be out on patrol responding to calls from the public. This is vitally important and will always be at the core of policing but protecting the public comes from many other activities as well.

Organised crime creates the markets for stolen goods, it rules through fear and intimidation on local estates, it fosters local drug markets to try and attract more vulnerable young people into addiction. It is an affront to law abiding folk who earn their money legally and pay their taxes. It is crucial that GMP maintains its record on fighting organised crime groups although much of this type of policing is invisible to the public as it involves a range of tactics, particularly covert surveillance.

Some of our "invisible policing" also protects the vulnerable by tackling child abuse, elder abuse and domestic violence. These roles are part of the increasing specialisation in policing and are the result of previous government inspections or recommendations from public enquiries. I do agree however that some of this has gone too far.

Much of this is driven by the way that the police service is measured and held to account. As I have said many times, we chase statistics and targets sometimes regardless of what is important to the public. The changing economic situation might provide the opportunity to concentrate more on what really adds value to the public.

We have the lowest level of crime in Greater Manchester for 10 years, yet too many parents are still fearful of letting their children out of their sight to play and so they don't get the freedom other generations had. We put huge amounts of effort into getting offenders into court but this does not necessarily provide satisfaction for the victim or prevent the offender continuing their criminal career. A more considered notion of public value might look at the wider impact of policing on society, giving greater recognition for instance on how school based officers have long term impacts on young people or how acting on those selling counterfeit cigarettes can have a big impact on the health budget. It might give greater recognition to such crimes as people being attacked or robbed in their homes or what is called ‘car-jacking’, which can have far greater impact on the victim than crimes which involve higher monetary value. It might give greater recognition to what local people think is really important but also recognise that the public will never be able to see the full picture of local criminality - much of which is hidden. A significant part of the growth in the policing budget over recent years has been to deal with this huge emphasis on measuring activity to the extent that measurement becomes an end in itself. This does not mean the police should not be accountable, absolutely not; the paradox is that we are now more accountable than ever but yet the level of public confidence in policing is still far too low.

The case involving Raoul Moat in Northumbria was the top news story for a number of days and the publicity then went on to Facebook. The advent of 24-hour news has had a profound effect on policing. Particular cases grab the public imagination and are then played out in the media in detail round the clock. In such a case well over 50 per cent of the time of the officer commanding the incident will probably be spent handling the media. This includes monitoring and reacting to what the media are saying about the case and things like the statements being made by witnesses in front of the cameras. The murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Cambridgeshire was such a case.

GMP sent firearms officers to Northumbria to help with the search for Raoul Moat and this shows how forces can work together when required. They work to an abiding philosophy of using the minimum of force and trying to take an armed suspect alive, if at all possible - not something which applies in most of the rest of the world.

The media have a legitimate interest in police operations. It cannot be right however that the last hours of a man's life are broadcast on live television with members of his family looking on. It cannot be right that an officer commanding such an incident has to consider how it might look on television as if he/she was a film director.

I think this is more of an issue than the controversy about the Facebook page. There have always been some who have hero worshipped criminals whether it is Ned Kelly, Al Capone or Billy the Kid. There has always been a section of society who hate the police as the symbol of what they see as an unfair society or just because they get in the way of their criminal business. Facebook is just a new avenue for communicating this. I will just stick to writing this blog.