Tory Police Minister admits cuts to police numbers are fuelling knife crime rise
From the Daily Mirror: Tory Police Minister Nick Hurd has admitted that police cuts are a “factor” driving Britain’s rocketing knife crime.
Category: #ToryPoliceCuts
#ToryPoliceCuts
Public trust in policing ‘breaking down’ as forces struggle to respond to crime because of cuts, MPs say
From The Independent: Public confidence and trust in police is “breaking down” as forces struggle to respond to crime because of government cuts, MPs have said.
Police to sue government unless it backs down over cuts
From The Guardian: Police chiefs in England and Wales will take legal action in the high court against the Tory government unless it backs down on plans to deduct hundreds of millions of pounds from their budgets.
The unprecedented decision was taken by the National Police Chiefs Council, which sent a formal letter to the Treasury saying it will seek a judicial review of the government’s proposals.
It marks a new low in relations between police chiefs and the government. The NPCC represents police chiefs of the 43 local forces in England and Wales, and it has already hired a barrister to seek a judicial order forcing the government to climb down.
The dispute centres on the Treasury’s recalculation of the money each force needed to pay into the police pension scheme. This landed forces with a £420m bill, on top of the 19% cut in police funding since 2010.
Police chiefs say the reductions have left forces struggling to protect the public. Leaders of three of the largest forces estimate the move will leave them with officer levels last seen in the 1970s.
Police at risk of becoming “irrelevant” as neighbourhood presences stripped back due to Tory cuts
From Daily Mirror: Police are at risk of becoming “irrelevant” as neighbourhood presences are stripped back due to Tory cuts, MPs warn today.
Police funding: Tory ministers “unaware of cuts impact”
From BBC News: Tory ministers do not know the impact that funding cuts have had on police forces, the UK’s public spending watchdog says.
According to the National Audit Office, the Home Office does not know whether the police system in England and Wales is “financially sustainable”.
It calls the approach to police funding “ineffective” and “detached” from the changing demands faced by officers.
The Home Office had not even forecast the effect of losing 44,000 police officers and staff since 2010, the NAO said.
Since September 2009 – the last set of Home Office figures before the Conservatives came into government – there has been a cut of 22,424 police officers.
On Monday, the leader of the superintendents’ association warned the service was on the verge of a crisis.
Police cuts: Loss of 7,000 neighbourhood officers in three years ‘putting public at risk’, Labour warns
From The Independent: The public has been put at risk by the loss of a staggering 7,000 neighbourhood police officers in just three years, Labour has warned.
Met Police chief: It would be “naive” to think police cuts haven’t contributed to rise in violent crime
From The Independent: The head of the Metropolitan Police has said it would be “naive” to think cuts to the number of rank-and-file officers had failed to have an impact on the rising levels of violent crime.
Police cuts ‘likely contributed’ to rise in violent crime, leaked report reveals
From The Guardian: Government cuts to the police “may have encouraged” violent offenders and have “likely contributed” to a rise in serious violent crime, leaked Home Office documents have revealed.
The documents cast doubt on claims by the home secretary, Amber Rudd, on Sunday that cuts to the police were not to blame for rising violence.
The row over funding for the police threatens to overshadow the government’s new anti-violence strategy. Since the Conservatives came to power in 2010 police budgets have been cut, and officer numbers have fallen by more than 20,000. Labour and the police have claimed funding reductions have jeopardised public safety.
Figures released in November showed a 20% annual rise in gun, knife and serious violent crime across England and Wales.
7,000 local police slashed despite claims they were safe from Tory cuts
From the Daily Mirror: A total of 6,853 police officers and PCSOs were axed from local policing units between 2015 and 2017, according to a Labour analysis of Home Office figures.
Former senior Met Police officer blames Theresa May for rising violent crime
Footage from Sky News: Former Met Police senior investigating officer Peter Kirkham tells it like it is about rising crime on Sky News…
The Tories Hate This Interview
This interview will never be shown on TV again___28 Aug 2018 – UPDATEWhen the Police Federation questioned Theresa May's policy of slashing police budgets and scrapping thousands of police jobs she furiously dismissed their expert concerns as "scaremongering" and "crying wolf".Last year's crime stats (England and Wales):Violent crime: ⬆️ up 20% in a single yearRobberies: ⬆️up 29% in a single yearRapes & sex offences: ⬆️ up 23% in a single yearStalking & harassment: ⬆️ Up 36% in a single yearKnife crime: ⬆️ up 21% in a single yearGun crime: ⬆️ up 20% in a single yearCrime in general: ⬆️ up 14% in a single year
Posted by BBC London Calling "Unofficial" on Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Police numbers to fall to 1970s levels as more than 15,000 officers face sack
From Daily Mirror: Police numbers will fall to levels last seen in the 1970s as more than 15,000 officers face the chop. Forces must make £800 million real terms cuts in their budgets by 2022, after Chancellor Philip Hammond failed to give them a penny more in Wednesday’s Budget.
Boris Johnson is furious about a police station being closed under a policy he introduced
From The Independent: Boris Johnson has said he was “very disappointed” and “mystified” by the planned closure of a police station in his constituency – despite it being shut as part of a policy he introduced as Mayor of London.
Jeremy Corbyn calls for Theresa May to resign as Prime Minister for presiding over police cuts while Home Secretary
From The Independent: Jeremy Corbyn has called on Theresa May to resign as Prime Minister over her record on cuts to police numbers as the political row over recent terror events intensified.
London terror attack: Jeremy Corbyn tells Theresa May ‘you cannot protect the public on the cheap’
From The Independent: Jeremy Corbyn has torn into Theresa May’s security record in the wake of the London Bridge attack, accusing her of trying to “protect the public on the cheap”. In a speech in Carlisle the Labour leader highlighted the 20,000 police officers cut while Ms May was Home Secretary and Prime Minister and said the police “must get the resources they need”.