The latest statements coming from the National Security Minister and the newly appointed Acting Commissioner of Police bring no comfort to citizens gripped by the fear of being the next victim of crime.

Having failed to deliver on two commitments to present us with a crime plan, Minister Warner is now back-pedalling, saying that a serious crime fighter does not reveal his plan. Really, Mr Warner? You who, in your anxiety to show your preparedness for the job, promised to deliver one Tuesday? And again two weeks later? We can only wonder about this sudden concern for secrecy.

Mr Warner should know that the public recognises hot air when it feels it blowing in its face. Every crime plan is capable of being shared with the public without its strategic details being released. How else are we to know that the government has a plan at all? Are we now to just trust Mr Warner to know what he's doing? Sorry, but in his long career in public life, Mr Warner has not earned that right.

Meanwhile, the Ag CoP, Stephen Williams chose to spend his first major public opportunity to address the country on trying to prove that crime is not spiralling out of control.

Mr Williams should spare us the lecture. His statement showed a worrying failure to grasp the seriousness of the moment and great insensitivity about the state of the public mind.

Having been appointed on the heels of the dismissal of Dwayne Gibbs and Jack Ewatski as CoP and Deputy CoP, Ag CoP Williams should know that the country is anxiously awaiting his first move in order to gauge whether it should feel safer in his hands. After this weekend, it is still waiting.

Ag Commissioner Williams would be better advised to spend whatever time and imagination he has on making us feel less at risk and on improving the crime detection and prosecution rates to give crime victims some sense of justice.

We would also encourage the Ag Commissioner against adopting his minister's attitude of being too new to the job to have answers.

This argument will cut no ice with a public that has been paying through the nose to support one anti-crime pipe dream after another.

In the same way that Minister Warner holds collective responsibility for the government's failure to deal with crime, Ag CoP Williams must, as a senior member of the management team, accept collective responsibility for the failure of the Police Service to make any significant dent in the crime rate.

The public does not wish to be talked down to. It needs to see hard evidence that those at the top have a sure grasp of the problem and a clear plan for dealing with it.

The time for talk, especially old talk, is over.