The Shadow Home Secretary, , is today pledging to put
neighbourhood policing at the heart of Labour's mission to take
back our streets with commitments to guarantee regular town
centre patrols and neighbourhood drug squads to go after local
drug dealing gangs.
This comes as research shows 50 per cent of the public say they
never see an officer on the beat – up from 27 per cent when
Labour left office in 2010.
Criminal damage affecting town centres is up by 20 per cent since
2020, and six million people report seeing drug dealing in their
local area.
Labour is setting out a Community Police Guarantee, putting
13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the streets,
tackling anti-social behaviour, burglary, criminal damage, street
drinking and drug dealing.
As part of their work, neighbourhood drug squads will gather
intelligence on markets in the local community. They will
collaborate with higher-tier drug enforcement, and pursue and
shut down local drug dealing gangs, using hotspot policing to
target areas most affected and new powers to establish Zero
Tolerance Zones to quickly clamp down on antisocial behaviour
before it takes hold.
The party previously pledged to extend police powers to shut down
crack houses – subsequently adopted by the government in the
Criminal Justice Bill.
In the coming days, Yvette Cooper is set to lay out further
details of how the party will fund the additional neighbourhood
police and PCSOs, calling time on wasteful procurement contracts
and requiring the 43 forces to collaborate to save money.
Labour is publishing new figures obtained under Freedom of
Information, showing the discrepancy between the amount different
police forces are paying for standard equipment.
For example, the FOIs show the cost of a standard police baton
ranges from around £20 in Leicestershire to over £120 in
Northamptonshire, while the cost of a high-performance vehicle in
Merseyside (£55,000) is double the price paid by Lancashire
Police (£27,000).
Overall, a Labour government will invest an additional £360
million into neighbourhood policing, drawing on some of the over
£700 million of savings identified by the independent Police
Foundation.
Yvette Cooper MP, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary,
said:
“Neighbourhood policing should be the cornerstone of our approach
to tackling crime and disorder. Yet under the Tories, it's been
utterly decimated, with 10,000 fewer officers on the streets.
“Labour will get police back out protecting our local
communities, with guaranteed patrols in our town centres and new
measures to tackle drug dealing gangs.
“Communities can only thrive when people feel safe. That's why
Labour will prioritise neighbourhood policing, with 13,000 more
neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat in our
communities.”
Ends
Notes:
- ONS statistics show the proportion of people who never or
almost never see an officer on the beat has surged over recent
years – Table S10 Crime in England and
Wales: Annual supplementary tables - Office for National
Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
- Recorded offences of criminal damage to a building other than
a dwelling (“town centre criminal damage”) – Table A4, Crime in England and
Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics
(ons.gov.uk)
- Surveyed experience of local drug dealing – Worksheet F18,
Crime in England and
Wales: Other related tables - Office for National Statistics
(ons.gov.uk)
- Labour's Community Policing Guarantee - Starmer launches
community policing guarantee to get “more police in your town,
fighting antisocial behaviour, taking back our streets” – The
Labour Party
- Police Foundation estimate of police efficiency savings – p.
132, srpew_final_report.pdf
(policingreview.org.uk)
-
- N.B. Uprated for inflation in police budgets, equivalent
savings over £700 million.
- Selected FOI responses:
-
- Baton – Leicestershire (£24.49), Northamptonshire
(£122.80)
- Compact high performance estate vehicle – Lancashire
(£27,342), Merseyside (£55,000).
