By Danny Shaw BBC Home Affairs Correspondent

How different it is at the Police Federation conference in Blackpool this year.

Instead of the talk about morale being at "rock bottom" and a "crisis" in the police service, there are plenty of relaxed, smiling faces - and an absence of sound-bites.

Last year's gathering was dominated by a bruising confrontation with the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, over radical reforms to police pay and conditions.

Routinely arming the police has been on the agenda this year

In previous years, the police have complained about under-funding and recruitment problems.

Although those issues have not entirely gone away, they are not as prominent in the minds of the 1,000 police constables, sergeants and inspectors assembled in Blackpool this week.

Stop and search

Instead, the conference appears to have "grown up", engaging in mature, intelligent debate about how to police, rather than indulging in pointless slanging matches.

Among the talking points is whether police should be routinely armed - a practical and important issue for people who are threatened and assaulted on a daily basis.

The use of stop and search, and new ways of recording who police stop and what their ethnic background is, is another topic that has been hotly debated - but without the hot air that used to accompany previous such debates.

Much of this is due to a change in leadership.

Fred Broughton, who led the Police Federation through a turbulent period, retired last year.

He was a commanding presence and a respected figure with a blunt and no-nonsense style.

Conference members have 'grown up'

But his successor, Jan Berry, is entirely different.

She is proving to be a thoughtful chairman; a woman who proposes reform in a quiet but persuasive way.

Formerly a chief inspector in Kent, she is impressing those around her with her hard work and considered responses to key events and problems.

The landscape of policing has changed too.

Recruits are joining in their hundreds; crime, according to whichever figures you read, is on the decline, or at the very least, stable; the Criminal Justice Bill, going through Parliament, contains a number of measures which the police were demanding just a few years ago.

Cups of tea

So, there are fewer moans and groans.

But at times the Police Federation still seems trapped between the desire for Home Office direction and the need to be detached from the bureaucrats in Whitehall.

Police want guidance from ministers on how to respond in the event of a biological terrorist attack, yet they want Mr Blunkett's team to impose fewer targets.

But whether they get more independence or less is unlikely to hinge on the policies shaped by the current executive this year, but in future years, by a younger team.

Because the feature you notice most about the officers drinking their cups of tea in the foyer at the Winter Gardens and strolling along the blustery promenade is that they are getting on.

Many of them are approaching retirement, or certainly early retirement.

Perhaps that is why it is a quieter conference than usual this year.