“We will get police back out in the community with the powers they need, not just stuck behind desks dealing with bureaucracy" - Yvette Cooper sets out Labour’s plan for police officers in every community after a “decade of dereliction on law and order” u
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The Labour Party has pledged to put bobbies back on the beat to
tackle the sharp increase in street crime on Rishi Sunak's watch as
knife-wielding muggers and prolific pick pocketers operate with
impunity. Labour is promising to put 13,000 neighbourhood police
and PCSOs back on the beat in communities across the country,
visible and present in local areas, deterring crime and catching
criminals, with guaranteed neighbourhood patrols. Restoring
safety on Britain's...Request free
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The Labour Party has pledged to put bobbies back on the beat to tackle the sharp increase in street crime on Rishi Sunak's watch as knife-wielding muggers and prolific pick pocketers operate with impunity. Labour is promising to put 13,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat in communities across the country, visible and present in local areas, deterring crime and catching criminals, with guaranteed neighbourhood patrols. Restoring safety on Britain's streets will be a top priority for a new Labour Home Secretary. Cooper will commit to running a “hands-on Home Office”, rigorously and regularly assessing progress against Labour's missions, lambasting the laissez-faire Conservative approach to crime over successive governments. Labour's plans draw lessons from the last Labour Government's strong action to establish neighbourhood policing and tackle street crime, but with a modern focus drawing on new technology and data analysis to drive hotspot policing to cut crime. Labour says the damage done to policing and the criminal justice system over the last fourteen years means that policing has been unable to respond to the new surge in street crime driven by serious and organised criminals. The decimation of neighbourhood policing, the collapse in charges, and the lack of focus on local community crime have all had devastating consequences for communities, the Party says. On Thursday, Labour will set out its next steps in rebuilding and renewing Britain's broken public services, after years of decline under the Conservatives. Following its pledge to cut NHS waiting times to 18 weeks, the party will on Thursday promise to rebuild neighbourhood policing as the cornerstone of its plans to tackle crime and keep communities safe. It comes as data shows a new street crime wave is taking hold across Britain under Rishi Sunak, as half of the public say they never see a bobby on the beat. On Sunak's watch:
These steep rises come as enforcement action has collapsed, with arrests having halved since 2010, including sharp drops for thefts, and as the proportion of thieves being punished for their crimes has plummeted. Labour has today received backing for its plans by former leaders from every rank of policing - the former Chief Constable, Stephen Otter, the past president of the Superintendents Association, Gavin Thomas, and former National Federation chair, Steve White. The Conservatives' decision to slash 10,000 neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs from Britain's streets since 2015 has “left community confidence in tatters”, Labour says. Yvette Cooper, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, said: “On Rishi Sunak's watch, 90% of crimes are going unsolved and knife-wielding muggers, phone thieves and pickpockets can get away with menacing our town centres and neighbourhoods. Ministers have done nothing to tackle the new organised crime wave that is hitting local shops and streets. That is the Tory legacy on law and order, and our communities are paying the price. “Enough is enough. Labour will rebuild safety on Britain's streets and take back our town centres from thugs and thieves, with 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat in our communities, tough new powers to crackdown on those who cause havoc on our high streets, and a mission to reverse the collapse in the number of crimes being solved. “Labour will put an end to Tory chaos and be a government of law and order, putting the safety and security of our communities at its heart and taking back our streets”. Ends Notes Steve White, former chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, and former acting police and crime commissioner for Durham, said: “If the British model of policing is to endure and improve, the police service must have, at its core, the trust and confidence of the public. "Neighbourhood policing is the way to do this. Investment in the basics of good policing, with the right level of resourcing in the right place and a renewed focus on what matters to communities, supported by proper training and a visible presence, is what will make the difference. "Antisocial behaviour is the scourge of many cities, towns and villages because those that are responsible for it believe they won't get caught. This must change - and effective neighbourhood policing can deliver that change.” Stephen Otter, former chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall, said: “Years of Conservative government have seen a shocking decay in neighbourhood policing across the country which has led to a worrying decline in levels of trust in the police. Labour's plans to put police back on our streets and to give local people a say in how their local area is policed is hugely welcome. “Only if local people have a relationship with the police in their area will trust and public participation in policing be restored. Without the public's support, policing becomes less effective and our streets more and more unsafe”. Ends
o Thefts from the person have increased by almost half, driven by an almost doubling in incidents of snatch thefthttps://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables o One-third of the population of England and Wales (approximately 20 million people) have experienced or witnessed antisocial behaviour in their local area (Worksheet F18) https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesotherrelatedtables o The proportion of the public who never or almost never see an officer on patrol has surged to 50% - https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesannualsupplementarytables
o Knife crime - Worksheet F3, Crime in England and Wales: Other related tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) o Robbery - Table A4, Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
o Figures on personal theft and snatch theft are measured by the Crime Survey (the figure the Conservatives use to justify their claims about crime falling) – but they explicitly show that those types of crime have *risen* since Rishi Sunak became PM (see above) o Shoplifting (not counted as part of the Conservatives' definition of neighbourhood crime) is at its highest level on record o Knife crime and robbery (also not counted as part of the Conservatives' definition of neighbourhood crime) are both: § Higher now than in 2010/11 § Higher now than in 2015 § Higher now than in 2022 § (See above sources)
o 10,000 officers & PCSOs have been lost from the function ‘neighbourhood policing' since 2015, according to Home Office police workforce statistics § Tables F1/F3 and earlier releases https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2023 o Numbers have increased in ‘local policing' only as a function of increases in ‘incident response/management', not ‘neighbourhood policing'
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