PAULINE Clare yesterday stepped down after seven years in charge of Lancashire Police.

At a press conference she told of her plans for the future and how she is leaving the constabulary in safe hands. Chief reporter Jamie Diffley heard what she had to say...

LANCASHIRE Police chief Pauline Clare yesterday admitted she did not know exactly how safe her force's controversial Airwave radio system was.

The digital system replaced analogue receivers traditionally used by officers, and is set to be rolled out to the rest of the country. Officers at the Commonwealth Games were supposed to use them until the plan was scrapped.

Unions have expressed concern for officers' health and safety after many complained of headaches and nausea after using the radios.

Speaking at a press conference to mark her retirement yesterday, the Chief Constable said nobody could say exactly how safe they were.

She said: "There is no one in the country who can turn round and say it is totally safe. We have to make assessments on whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and if Airwave is any more dangerous than mobile phones. We are pushing the Home Office to carry out testing and will be keeping an eye on it."

The issue of Airwave was one of many raised at yesterday's conference, in which Mrs Clare outlined her plans for the future. It was markedly different than when she first faced the cameras in 1995 after being named as the country's first female chief constable. Then, one of her first questions, asked by a national journalist, was not about her plans for the force or ambitions. It was about her perfume. Not the most taxing of questions for someone who had made history by landing such a high-profile job, but it summed up the feeling of suspicion when Mrs Clare became the first woman to head a police force.

Seven years later and her tenure has come to an end. So too, she said, had any misgivings that a woman was doing what was still essentially viewed as a man's job. She said being named the first female chief made her a role model, not just to women in the police force but in life, and brought added responsibility.

"There were a few people around who wanted to see how I would handle the job. They viewed it as a terrible mistake to appoint a woman for what is seen as a man's job. I hope I have proved them wrong."

A former Lancashire Woman of the Year, Mrs Clare received the North West Woman of Achievement Award in 1995. In her seven years in charge of Lancashire she has scooped more awards, including the Queen's Police Medal in 1996, and changed the force dramatically.

Staff are more involved in decision-making and problem solving, but Lancashire, like all forces in the country, still has the same battles to fight. The amount of drugs which flood the county's streets and the number of casualties in road accidents are examples of statistics Lancashire Police are actively looking to slash.

More recently, the force had the problem of riots in Burnley last summer.

Mrs Clare said: "We had problems in Burnley and there were similar ones in Oldham and Bradford. Ours were slightly different and probably dealt with more quickly, sensitively and efficiently. We have a good relationship with community leaders and are working very, very hard in those areas."

Mrs Clare has spent the past few months retraining and readying herself for leaving the force she first entered as a PC in 1966. She is confident her successor Paul Stephenson will carry on where she left off.