Home Office calls review

by Noel Bussey, Campaign 04-Apr-08

Agencies line up to pitch for controversial community policing creative account.

The Home Office is seeking an agency to promote neighbourhood policing
and safety in the community.

It has briefed its roster agencies, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and
M&C Saatchi, to prepare presentations for a pitch that is due to begin

by the end of the month.

The work will be based on promoting safety in the community and
highlighting the Government's attempts to increase the number of
neighbourhood policemen, as outlined in the revised National Community
Safety Plan.

The document outlines community safety policy for the next four years
and covers themes such as tackling serious violence, addressing the
threat to communities of violent extremists, and increasing community
confidence in the safety of neighbourhoods.

The issue of government ad campaigns for police initiatives has been
under the spotlight this week. David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary,
complained that a Home Office ad that ran in national newspapers
promoting a "new era in policing" was "thinly disguised political
marketing for the Labour Party at taxpayers' expense". The ad was
created by M&C Saatchi.

M&C Saatchi, RKCR/Y&R and the Home Office all declined to comment.