It is always disappointing when high-profile leaders lose the confidence of people beneath them.

When these people are Sussex Police officers and the leader is Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse, then we must all feel seriously concerned.

This is our police force and it is our safety and security ultimately at risk. A statement from the Sussex Police Federation, quite shocking in its rigour and directness, wanted to place on record that it was losing confidence in the Chief Constable.

The statement expressed the fear that the Chief Constable's management of the force was not conducive to the welfare and efficiency of its members. It was an unprecedented attack on a police chief by his own officers.

This newspaper has already detailed the rising crime figures in Sussex, the Police Federation's fears of impending crisis and calls from inside and outside the force for a large increase in recruiting and for more bobbies on the beat.

This week's Home Office announcement of funding for extra police is not enough. So far, Paul Whitehouse has focused much of his spending on information technology and hi-tech equipment for his "smaller, better, different" concept of minimal policing.

And in response to calls for more front-line policemen, he still maintains, astonishingly, that employing more officers will not help prevent crime. He believes rising crime figures are caused by poverty, inequality and social deprivation. However, they are not his problem. Deploying an effective police force is.

Part of the success of New York's zero tolerance policing policy has been the large number of officers deployed, with time to talk to and get to know local people without the need for hi-tech equipment.

Last year was a bad year for Mr Whitehouse. He was suspended for three weeks over allegations of misleading the public and the police authority about a fatal shooting and he was in court to support his daughter, who was convicted of assaulting two policemen after a row with her boyfriend.

While I have every sympathy for a father standing by his daughter, a Chief Constable should surely have been more discreet than to parade arm in arm with her afterwards.

The fact that she has now lodged complaints against one of the arresting officers makes her father's position almost untenable and that of Sussex Police deeply embarrassing.

Surrey Police, who are investigating her claims, are due to report shortly. Paul Whitehouse has already denied rumours he is planning to resign. For him, and for us, it is a worrying start to the century.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.