Andrew Snowden is the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire.
In 1992, James Carville, Bill Clinton’s Presidential election guru, coined the now-infamous phrase “it’s the economy, stupid”. So much was this at the heart of the campaign; the slogan was plastered on the election office walls. It was designed to be blunt, attention-grabbing, and to put a relentless focus on the issue that would win the election.
Fast forward to the UK in 2024; and we are in a year that will see a General Election, council elections, Mayoral elections, and those for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). Having taken the seat off Labour and been elected as PCC for Lancashire – at the heart of the red wall – in 2021, as part of the ‘Boris Bounce’, I know too well how much law and order will be one of the top issues in these campaigns.
But the key to success is not just understanding the policy areas that will be the battlegrounds; it’s understanding why, knowing what to do about it, and how to deliver that. It’s the basics, stupid. Because the heart of the issue is about both the perception and lived reality of people and their relationship with crime and the police – and what they want politicians to do about it. Which is: get the basics right and do your job, please.
Whilst some eyes might roll at the prospect of viewing what needs to be done in policing through the lens of politics, the whole point of Police and Crime Commissioners is to more effectively hold the police to account to the public they serve – and who pay for them. Understanding the politics of policing in 2024 is also the key to understanding how to improve public confidence in policing.
Both main parties have grasped the ‘why’ for some time: a feeling that anti-social behaviour is going unchecked, a lack of police visibility, perceived poor outcome rates on neighbourhood crimes, and a general sense that crime does now actually pay for some.
There is as much perception as there is reality in this – crime is actually falling. There are complex crime counting rules which mask real outcome measures, the prisons are nearly full – so crime really isn’t paying for many, and officer numbers are above the 2010 levels. But tell that to someone who doesn’t feel safe in their home or walking to the shops – and you’ll get short shrift in their answer.
The Peelian Principles of Policing – that the police should be from and for the communities they serve; that the public are the police and the police are the public – are as important now as they have ever been. The British ‘bobby’ doesn’t carry a gun, they don’t regularly have to use excessive force, they police by consent. And for consent, you need confidence of the public.
In the run up to my election in 2021 I could feel the confidence evaporating in Lancashire. A Labour PCC had done policing purely by “computer says…..”. Shutting police stations because “the data says”, neighbourhood policing teams were pulled out of entire districts “because the resourcing model says”, whilst still finding the money to set up a six figure vanity project “because the social value strategy, or whatever…says”.
Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that lots of dedicated and hard-grafting police officers and staff were not doing amazing work and getting criminals behind bars. But in many areas of Lancashire you couldn’t go and speak to a police officer within your entire district council area; nor would you see an officer about on the beat as there was no neighbourhood team. A softly, softly approach on ASB and youth justice, plus rural crime spiralling out of control – well, why would you have confidence?
People want to see the police, they want them to be accessible, and they want them to fight crime and protect people. You can cut crime without making people feel safer or, indeed, improve public confidence. Few members of the public will be victims of an actual crime – far more are likely to witness or be subjected to anti-social behaviour, witness drug dealing or taking, see speeding and dangerous driving, or see what they perceive to be ‘breaches of the peace’. These may make them feel less safe or perceive the police not to be in control of the streets – or both.
We’ve been putting back the fundamental foundations that policing needs to maintain confidence and consent. Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble and Fylde now all have open-to-the-public police stations. Four neighbourhood policing teams have been put back where they were cut by my Labour predecessor. Every area of Lancashire now has dedicated neighbourhood officers and an open police station.
We’ve got rid of the vanity projects and launched dedicated teams like the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit and the Roads Policing Unit. We’ve launched force-wide crackdown on criminal gangs and anti-social behaviour. We’ve secured funding from government to increase officers hours spent walking the beat; we are using more civils powers to try and toughen up the youth justice system.
I am clear with the Chief Constable, who luckily shares this view, that I will hold him to account on how many criminals are arrested and charged, how much cash is seized off them, what the crime rates are, how many victims there are, how many enforcement actions are being taken to tackle ASB, how many hours are being spent on the beat. Less fluff and more basics.
This approach is working. Since July alone, 5,700 more hours have been spent walking the beat and 1,800 stop searches/checks have been conducted relating to ASB. In the last year 1,212 suspected gang members have been arrested, 286 kg of drugs have been seized, and £1.2 million of cash has been taken off criminals. As a result of all of this, crime is now falling year on year in Lancashire.
One of the proudest moments of my time as PCC was when the Home Secretary listened to PCC calls to end degree-only entry to policing, which was making it a pretty much middle-class, graduate-exclusive profession, and putting off lots of amazing people from applying. Military leavers, career changers, people with life experience who simply don’t want to do a degree, were not applying and we were missing out on this huge talent pool. You don’t need a degree to be a bobby on the beat – you need common sense, an inquisitive mind, and the ability to talk to lots of different people from different walks of life – and yes, the confidence to confront and arrest are required.
So based on our record – if anyone thinks Labour have better answers – with their imaginary 13,0000 extra officers that they can’t explain where the money will come from – then think again. A desperate unfunded promise to try and detract from the 20,000 uplift already delivered.
But we as a party need to have tangible funded manifesto pledges on what we will deliver next on ASB and Crime. Continuing to invest in making policing more visible, giving those extra officers the tools to do the job, and continuing to toughen up the justice system, especially with youth justice, to ensure there are real consequences for criminal actions.
We know ‘why’ this is a key battleground area. Even the Labour party is now trying to grasp at ‘what to do about it’ while not mastering the ‘how’ to go about it. But to me it’s obvious what we, as the Conservatives, the natural party of law and order, should do – let’s double down on the basics.