Bye, RB

Richard Brunstrom, the retiring head of North Wales Police, has spoken of his pride at bringing down crime and regret over the times he "became the story".

He argued that there had been "overwhelming" public support for his traffic policies, but there was a group which thought "they are the world's best driver, and they have the right to ignore the speed limit". On drugs, he said he was "certain" that a time would come when drugs would be decriminalised, with a move towards a "more intellectual" approach to drug use. Mr Brunstrom said too many people were sent to prison in the UK, and there were alternatives. "There needs to be a wider ranging debate on the purpose of prison," he said.

He said he was not the only person to become involved in the "worldwide global development of the way the media operates," but there was no hesitation in accepting that he was sometimes wrong.

Now he's leaving, perhaps it's possible to look at his ideas in the cold light of reality and without the hysteria that all too often supplanted the message he tried to get across. In fact, they make a surprising amount of sense. But the forward looking and those who dare to tread new territory are frequently hounded by those who either don't understand or don't want their ideas. It's happened in this area before.

Now living a relatively quiet life, a local man encountered just such media attention and vitriol over his ideas as a Headteacher of a local comprehensive. His ideas were significantly ahead of their time, and he turned round what some had considered to be a comprehensive in danger of slipping. His thanks for attempting to bring about one of the most far-sighted educational reforms in the area, however, was to be ousted from his job by a cabal of the self-interested and professionally envious. He, too, made mistakes, but he paid for them dearly. Do we ever value our free thinkers?