JUST hours after he was confirmed as Pauline Clare's successor, the congratulations cards had begun arriving at the office of Paul Stephenson.

But the 48-year-old knows only too well that the number of 'thank you' cards he receives at the end of his tenure depends on his performance in the post of chief constable.

The police chief who was brought up in East Lancashire, and is pictured (inset) when he was an inspector, spoke to David Higgerson...

IT seems apt that a man who spent part of his career pounding the streets should decide he wanted to be a policeman while working in a shoe factory.

Once Paul Stephenson had made the decision to leave the unnamed Rossendale company, he began a career which saw him rise rapidly through the ranks -- but he hasn't forgotten his roots.

Indeed, community policing plays a great part in his plan for the future of Lancashire Police.

It is that which he likes to concentrate on, even when interviewers try to press him on arguably more colourful aspects of his life - like his relationship with his niece, actress Nicola Stephenson, and her infamous gay kiss with Anna Friel in Channel 4 soap Brookside.

He said: "It's great that she is in Clocking Off. She has been in Holby City and Brookside but now she is in a programme I actually like watching.

Lancashire is a county which will test Mr Stephenson to the very limits.

He said: "Lancashire is a very diverse area. Some areas are like inner cities, complete with street crime and drugs. Then we have the rural areas, which have their own problems. There are also problems with deprivation.

"It is all a challenge for me and one I am looking forward to."

Many claim the old bobby on the beat has disappeared. Not so, or at least not in Lancashire, said Mr Stephenson.

"We still have officers assigned to set areas with the job of getting to know people and we want people to know the local police and who they can turn to.

"I hope to draw on my experience as a policeman to help improve things. I know from my time as a PC that you can feel detached from other things going on within the force and that you can feel your role is not important.

"I still go out on patrol. I know I am not the best beat officer around, but many of our officers are. They are valued and I want them to know that."

Mr Stephenson, who still lives in East Lancashire with his wife, Lynda, is a former head boy at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School. He joined Lancashire Constabulary in 1975, serving most of his early career in and around Bacup.

He attended a special command course at Bramshill College in 1982 and afterwards served as a sergeant in Bacup, an inspector at Burnley and a chief inspector at Colne.

Mr Stephenson was then promoted superintendent and put in charge of policing the Accrington area.

He left for Merseyside five years ago but continued to live in the Rossendale area before returning to the Lancashire force as deputy chief constable.

Away from the thin blue line, Mr Stephenson enjoys walking his dog on the moors. While in Merseyside he was seconded to the RUC in Northern Ireland.

He hopes some of the skills he has picked up on his travels can be applied to his new role.

He said: "In Northern Ireland I learnt how to deal with separate sections of the community. They often felt they weren't being listened to or that their problems were being ignored and that caused problems.

"I learnt to deal with them sensitively and compassionately."

"I think it is very important we get the community involved as much as possible so they do actually feel involved in what we are doing.

"In Merseyside, I learnt how to organise horse races and tackle gun crime in a city they called 'Gun City.'

As well as taking helm of an organisation which over the last 12 months has been stretched thanks to events as wide-ranging as foot and mouth and the Burnley 'disturbances,' Mr Stephenson will also have to grapple with new government ideas on policing.

One is the introduction of new powers for civilian officers, who will be allowed to use "reasonable amounts of force." Several chief constables have slammed the proposals.

But Mr Stephenson said: "I think we have to look at ways of making sure there is more of a presence on the streets, because that is what people always ask for. But at the same time it can't be to the detriment of the police. Powers must not be transferred or resources because that would not help anyone.

"My priority is to protect frontline services. Cuts we have had to make recently have been made centrally not to the front-line services and I don't want that to change. "

Communicating better with the public is also on the agenda -- and he highlights the recent creation of super control-rooms as an example.

Over the past two years, police stations have gradually lost their control rooms in favour of one per division. The move has led to complaints from people that they can't get through and that the people they talk to do not have local knowledge.

Mr Stephenson said: "People didn't know that new technology meant we couldn't keep all the small control rooms. And we did have problems, we didn't get it all right first time."