NORTH YORKSHIRE'S top cop has backed Government calls that every resident should know their local bobby.

Chief Constable Della Cannings also told a meeting of county residents that her force would not allow people to flout the law over any ban on hunting.

Ms Cannings was speaking at two North Yorkshire Police Authority (NYPA) meetings, part of a series taking place across the county to give people a say in how their policing service is delivered.

Speaking at Riccall Regen Centre, near Selby, she said: "We need to make sure people know their local police officers - that's one of the things we really want to get embedded in the next year."

Her comments came after recent Government proposals to make beat officers' mobile numbers available to the public. NYPA member and Brayton parish councillor Alan Curry told the meeting that better communication would be the watchword for the police next year.

"There's been a huge improvement in the performance of the force," he said.

Better computerised systems were "really making a difference" to the standards of police communication, he said, with 88.4 per cent of emergency calls now answered within ten seconds from April to October this year. The force's target figure is 90 per cent.

The meeting also heard that possible police performance targets for 2005/6 were to reduce total crime across the area by a further ten per cent, and to reduce nuisance and disorder by 15 per cent.

Coun Curry said: "This is not a high crime area - but there is a lot of nuisance and disturbance.

"That is the level of crime that we are starting to concentrate on."

Ms Cannings was later questioned about policing the impending ban on hunting with dogs, at a meeting in The Milton Rooms, Malton.

Ryedale district councillor Stephen Preston asked: "How do you propose to deal with hunting when people carry on and go out and break the law in three months' time?"

After asking light-heartedly if anyone knew where she could buy red jackets for undercover officers, Ms Cannings said dealing with hunting supporters would be no different from people protesting about other issues.

"Clearly we can't have people confronting the law of the country and standing up and breaking it," she said.

Deputy Chief Constable Roger Baker said: "We are working with a range of agencies and are involved with both sides of the debate.

"We see our role as working with the community, as passions are high, particularly in North Yorkshire with the number of hunts we have."

Updated: 11:08 Saturday, December 04, 2004