People are right at the heart of policing in Dyfed Powys as two new initiatives are launched across the whole force.

A new Policing Pledge has been signed by the Chief Constable Ian Arundale and chair of the police authority Alisdair Kenwright. It outlines standards of service citizens can expect to receive from Dyfed Powys Police.

Copies of the pledge will be displayed in each police station over the next few weeks and it will also be available on line. Over the next few months, each Neighbourhood Policing Team will have a tailored version of the pledge for each community.

The other new initiative is the online crime mapping service. For the first time, citizens will be able to click on their neighbourhood on the force website and see crime information for their area.

The website will include statistics for the total numbers of crimes, total offences of burglary, violence against the person, robbery and vehicle crime supplemented by the total number of anti-social behaviour incidents in each area.

Maps will also be generated for total crime levels. These shaded maps will display the comparative levels of total crime in each ward/neighbourhood - and reflect the crime rate in that area as either 'low', 'average' or 'high'.

"Dyfed Powys Police has always put people at the heart of its service," said Assistant Chief Constable Nick Ingram, chair of the Citizen Focus Board.

"Both new initiatives are driven by the Home Secretary following the Government's Green Paper on Policing published in July 2008.

"We will do all that we can to meet each of the 10 pledges, but we have to remember that Dyfed Powys covers the largest area in the whole of England and Wales. It is important that we stay realistic about what we can achieve and affordability will be the key.

"The crime maps enable the force to demonstrate how safe the area is with relatively low levels of crime and high detection rates.

"Again, it is important that the statistics are read in context. If an area shows a high crime rate, it could be the result of one or two additional incidents in one month, compared to the previous months. Because the figures are so low to start with an increase of two incidents could double the previous figure.

"As we are starting with a low crime rate, any increases or decreases could look startling when shown as a percentage."