What communities need from their police forces would be out in favour of top-down targets and threats of further action from the centre if chiefs don’t perform to the Labour mandate.
I do wonder if, with all this “woke” nonsense, there has been any consideration of an equality impact assessment on funding for rural areas.
I have set up an Ethics and Transparency Panel of stop and search across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. That gives me the confidence that they are carried out in line with intelligence-led policing.
Getting a grip on the budget meant we could use the savings to pay for better IT and hundreds more police officers. We have cut anti-social behaviour by over 50 per cent across the county.
We need to increase the treatment options for those with substance misuse issues in order to stop the offending from happening.
We have found a way to reduce the demand on police time from mental health episodes. It is now time to look at other demands on the police and see how they can be reduced – or how the costs can be recouped in full.
We are identifying organised crime groups and disrupting and arresting them. The team have helped return over £1 million worth of stolen machinery to victims of crime over the last year.
These positions are a successful manifesto commitment and have been crucial to increasing local accountability in policing. Vacant positions for the May elections are being advertised now.
It is absolutely right that at the next general election we will be judged on our response to law and order. The Government and PCCs, working together, have provided more money, more officers and now, more time.
We need visible policing to deter criminals, neighbourhood policing to support local residents and businesses; putting resources where they will make the most difference.
Why am I spending taxpayers’ hard-earned cash on a larger police presence – when the rates of traditional crimes are falling?
Police forces can learn from Mark Rowley’s declaration that his officers should focus on tackling crime in the capital, rather than dealing with non-life-threatening mental health call-outs.
In Greater London, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands, we see the politicking, wokery, and limpness of Labour that would continue nationally were it given the keys to Number 10.
I am yet to see a plan in place that makes me think this dire situation will get better any time soon.
Durham and Northumbria are both currently held by Labour, whereas Dyfed Powys is held by Plaid Cymru.