Michael Howard has pledged to fight anti-social behaviour in Essex by increasing the number of police officers.
Howard's way - the Tory leader signs an autograph for pupils at John Bramston School, Witham.
The leader of the opposition visited John Bramston School, in Witham, on Friday and spoke to many of the teachers and pupils about life in the classroom.
He was treated to a performance from the school orchestra, visited the school gymnasium and listened in on maths, English and science lessons.
The trip was part of a nationwide tour to try to get the Conservative message across before a possible general election next year.
Mr Howard was asked about how his party would tackle anti-social behaviour by youngsters in places like Braintree Freeport.
He said: "An important thing we plan to do about that is to have many, many more police officers.
"Over a period of time we will recruit 40,000 more police officers over the country as a whole, and for Essex that will mean something like 923 extra police officers."
Mr Howard also visited Essex University, Wivenhoe, and stopped off at Clacton during his trip to the county.
Published Monday, November 15, 2004
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