It is interesting to speculate that many of today's senior police officers, along with Government officials and police authority members, may not have experienced at first hand the work of the traditional village constable.

Quite simply, they may be town-bred or even too young, the village bobby being a thing of the past before they began their current careers.

If that is the case, it will be difficult for them to appreciate the true value of such a peace-keeper.

Without the necessary personal experience, they will have to rely on folk memories, reminiscences and old files, all of which are notoriously unreliable, and it is not surprising, therefore, that no one will approve the introduction of a contemporary version of the village constable.

So what do I mean by the traditional village constable? And would his or her presence be relevant in today's society? Those of us who can recall this valued member of the community may have widely differing memories and opinions of his role and value, and yet if he existed today it can be argued he would have a vital part to play in maintaining peace and tranquillity.

His mere presence combined with police powers, a knowledge of local people and contemporary back-up services would go a long way to prevent a great deal of social mayhem such as vandalism, petty theft, litter dumping, binge-drinking, indiscriminate parking, unruly behaviour and a whole host of minor public nuisances. He would also prevent crime.

It is difficult to be precise about the time when the last village constable proudly patrolled his own very personal patch of England; indeed, there may still be some around, but I would suspect they are now a rare or endangered species.

The traditional village constable lived and worked on his own beat; he occupied a police house, which usually had an office attached, and he was personally responsible for policing a specific area. He could be contacted by telephone too, not through a call centre!

His area might comprise just one large village but more usually it was a collection of several. He was on duty 24 hours per day, liable to be called out for emergencies but probably spending a lot of time chatting to the people, making sure the uniform was seen at strategic places, picking up snippets of local intelligence or perhaps ticking off minor offenders.

He would make sure he knew everyone who lived and worked on his beat, and he would resist taking minor offenders to court if there was a more practical means of dealing with them. Contrary to village folklore, he did not clip the ears of unruly youngsters, but he might persuade their parents it was not a bad idea for them to do so on occasions.

I believe it was around the 1960s that changes began to affect village constables. One important factor was that the working hours of a police constable were defined as eight hours per day, so this meant a village bobby could not, and should not, be expected to be on call for 24 hours.

Bobbies, under the direction of their superiors, were then allocated eight-hour shifts which meant their patch was visited by other officers and, in turn, they visited the beats of their neighbouring colleagues. This ensured continuing cover, albeit by several constables.

It also coincided with the introduction of motor transport for rural policemen, initially in the form of small radio-equipped motor bikes and later as mini-vans or cars. No longer did the village bobby rely on a pedal cycle and no longer was he out of contact with his supervisory officers.

It was through these developments that a constable might live in the village police house while having to cover a far larger area than hitherto, even performing duties in local towns, while working eight-hour shifts. In turn, his patch would be visited by other officers and so the uniqueness of the village constable began to decline.

It was this kind of inevitable progress which, almost without anyone realising it, brought about the end of the traditional village constable.

In some ways, it was surprising that this actually happened because, at this very time, town and city police forces were doing their best to emulate the village constable ideal by introducing what became known as community constables. They wanted their police officers to be permanently responsible for a small area of town, getting to know the local people and being more of a guide, counsellor and friend than an officious rule-bound figure of authority. They wanted townspeople to know and trust their local bobby.

The system was not a complete success because, due to shortages of manpower, those constables were regularly taken away to perform other duties.

It is debatable whether community support officers will be accepted as village constables used to be, but in our modern society, a dedicated village constable would be very expensive.

Whether he or she would produce a more peaceful and contented society and so give value for money is another question.

Updated: 14:56 Wednesday, June 09, 2004