Justin Davenport and Peter Dominiczak report in the London Evening Standard on the new Commissioner for Scotland Yard, Bernard Hogan-Howe.

In his first public appearance at New Scotland Yard, Mr Hogan-Howe said he wanted to tell the people of London that "the idea is to make the criminals fear the police".

The Commissioner - the third Met chief in six years - is expected to move quickly to shake up the Yard and bring in zero-tolerance policies which proved so successful on Merseyside [his prior post].

These included the widespread use of metal-detecting arches to combat the carrying of weapons, and a tough approach to people caught with guns and knives.

We've all seen a lot of American television crime dramas where a high-ranking police official gets personally involved in catching the crook in an individual case, and we shake our heads and say, "Yeah, right."  Well...

[Mr.] Hogan-Howe chased and caught two suspected bike thieves weeks before being given the top job at the Met.

The Commissioner, 53, who was appointed yesterday, chased the alleged teenage thieves to a housing estate* and "relieved them of the bike".

*English-American translation:  housing estate = housing project.