We live in an ever-more connected world, and communication is getting more sophisticated, quicker and increasingly technological on what sometimes feels like a daily basis.

So it stands to reason that the police should move with the times and explore as many avenues as possible to enable the public to have quick and convenient contact with officers.

There will be many readers who recall the halcyon days of a bobby on every street corner ready to deal with problems, offer help and assistance, or just to point the way and be there for a friendly chat.

Unfortunately, those days are a long time in the past and reduced resources means that constables can’t pound the beat as much as they used to, though there have been great strides towards improving community police presence through Police Community Support Officers.

That said, more of us use digital devices to communicate so it makes sense that the police tap into this, and over the past month West Yorkshire Police has been trialling a “live chat” section on the website where the public can communicate directly with the police.

With almost 1,000 people using this service over the past month, the demand for it is obviously there and it enables people to quickly engage with the police on non-emergency matters. Perhaps if it becomes more widely used it will cut down on unnecessary calls to 999 which often cause problems by diverting resources away from real emergencies.

Obviously this will never take the place of old-fashioned face-to-face contact, but any extra line of communication to allow police and the public to keep in touch is something that should be welcomed.