Sara Thornton's speech to the joint NPCC and APCC conference in full

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Over the last three years, chief constables and Police and Crime Commissioners have worked together at a local level and we are finding ways to work together at a national level. We live in a world that is globally connected and digitally enabled and the threats that we face are more national and international than ever so the need to work together has never been greater. And the challenge of austerity - whatever tomorrow brings - means that we must find joint ways to efficiency and value for money. Chiefs need to work together but we also need to work with Police and Crime Commissioners and so I am delighted that we are holding a joint conference.

We all know that the Crime Survey of England and Wales reports crime down from a peak of 19m in 1995 to under 7m last year - traditional crime is down. The academics and commentators all have their own explanations of this considerable improvement in the safety of communities but I am clear that part of the success is down to the hard work of police officers and staff up and down the country. Policing is not a career for the faint of hard - but good policing is essential to uphold the rule of law in a democracy. As the leaders of the service, we owe it to them to ensure that we work together to provide a vision to inspire, encouragement through difficult times and hope for the future.

But as traditional crimes have fallen - and I see little point in not accepting and celebrating that fact - new challenges are presented. The exponential increase in reports of sexual crime (up 40 per cent last year alone); some of those crimes reported because victims at last have the confidence to believe that something will be done, some because technology has enabled an estimated 50,000 people to view and share images of child abuse. I was recently briefed on Operation Voicer which was a National Crime Agency led investigation into a paedophile ring that was filming the sexual abuse of babies and children. We know that 262 people viewed those images but we cannot trace 38 of them. This is one of the compelling operational reasons why we need the communications service providers to retain internet connection records so that law enforcement can access them in appropriate circumstances to identify individuals' IP addresses and therefore bring offenders to justice.

Serious organised crime, modern slavery, human trafficking, cyber crime and cyber-enabled frauds have developed as new challenges over the last ten years.  We are determined to develop new approaches and skills to enable an effective response.

The tragic events in Paris a few weeks ago have brought the modern threat from terrorism into sharp focus. For over a year, the threat level has been assessed as severe.  Terrorism is another crime which demonstrates global connection and digital enablement. The recent life imprisonment given to a 15 year old from Blackburn who was directing jihadists in Australia to mount an attack on an Anzac parade is a powerful example of the challenges that we face. We will only be effective as police forces if we work together - and I am grateful for the wise and energetic leadership of Mark Rowley and Helen Ball from the Met - but we also need to be working with communities and here the Police and Crime Commissioners have a key role. We must not forget that it is communities that defeat terrorism.

So this conference will have to come to grips with how the police service can respond to these profound changes. And we will be responding with less resource than we have now - we just don’t know how much yet. The allocation of public money to the police service is a matter for politicians but, as police chiefs, I think that we do have a responsibility to point out the operational impact of fewer officers and staff.  Chiefs are police officers not politicians.

The most important conversation that we have is with ministers and officials in the Home Office but there is also a place for a wider more public dialogue. Many of you are aware that letters were sent to the Home Secretary last week by several chiefs and it is no secret that we have been discussing firearms response, the role of neighbourhood policing in enabling intelligence flows and the ability of the service to surge in times of crisis. These are operational matters and it is our responsibility to raise them. 

We are accused of saying both too much and too little. Some say that we wave the shroud, others that we are silent. As I used to say to my newly promoted superintendents - you have to cope with ambiguity as a police leader! 

Shortly after the establishment of the National Police Chiefs’ Council in April, I agreed with chiefs that 90 per cent of my focus would be on improving co-ordination and collaboration but that it was important that I spoke up on behalf of police leaders when needed.

We provide a public service; spending public money on a service that the public care about and rely upon.  The public debate is important in a democracy and we need to inform that debate and inform political decision making.  And so, despite the hostile reception that my comments have received in some quarters, I will repeat that efficiency savings alone will not provide the savings required if government grant is reduced as proposed. 

Policing will be done differently and competing demands prioritised.  It is important that we are candid and honest about that.

The Home Secretary has told us, she has told me, on many occasions that the Home Office is not going to tell the service what to do.  The ball is in our court.  We are right to be proud of our local policing model.  We do not have a national police force but that must not stop us from coming together to provide system leadership.

I never underestimate how difficult it is to co-ordinate the work of 43 forces but I do see grounds for optimism as our response develops.  We have jointly agreed to a programme on developing specialist capabilities, like serious organised crime, armed policing and major crime, on a shared basis and I am pleased to say that Winston and I have a proposal for joint governance.  On technology, we are working with the Home Office to develop the Emergency Service Network, the national police data programme and the joint biometric service.  All three are key to modernising the service and ensuring that officers and staff are better equipped for the future.

On procurement and technology, investment we have developed the plan and we are determined to ensure that we learn from each other, re-use and share so that we avoid duplication and unnecessary cost.  On people, we are working with the College of Policing at every level to build a professional model for policing.

There will be fewer officers and staff in five years time.  It is down to everyone in this room to ensure that they are better informed, better connected and better equipped.

I look forward to debating these issues with you over the next two days.