More police form part of the proposal for a reflationary budget. They are a direct answer to the requests of Chief Constables and Police Commissioners. I have reported here under Ā local issues this viewpoint.
I welcome a balanced package of tax cuts and public service improvements given the state of the economy and history of public service Ā funding since the banking crash and great recession of the last Labour government.
It is important that the new Home Secretary and Police Commissioners use the extra personnel wisely to tackle areas of crime where more people could make a difference. The public want fast response policing where officers can arrive promptly at a crime scene or location of possible crimes and disorder, and take prompt action to prevent or to pursue offenders. Intelligence led policing is likely to be the most effective, with any traditional beat policing being an exercise in engagement with the local community to learn about the problems and to pick up leads about possible offenders.
Drug rings and County lines need targetting more. Anti social behaviour and internet fraud are also big issues. I would welcome comments on how extra Ā officers could best be deployed.
July 7, 2019
I’d suggest prioritising actual crimes- like stabbing, burglary etc – over ‘crimes’ against PC norms like ‘hate speech’ on social media. This would be a big vote winner. Clearly the police need much more support to re-adopt traditional methods such as stop & search.
July 7, 2019
I agree – a more traditional presence and focus is needed. That said, the growth of the web has introduced new crimes but as you say the focus there should also be on real crimes rather than wrong-think.
July 7, 2019
Another legacy for Mayhab, she was the worst Home Secretary and a disaster of a PM says Lord Stephenson, supported by other former commissioners.
First change the selection procedures in the public sector to change the ill liberal left wing bias introduced by a Blaire across all public sector jobs, including judiciary, quangos. Why have an ex rail boss in charge of policing!
JR, your govt has given up on drug laws and is deliberately turning a blind eye. Perhaps because so many Tory MPs and ministers admit to taking all sorts of drugs that they feel it is not an issue. Just sounds bites for the masses like their mass immigration policy. Make the right noises but do completely the opposite. Same for Brexit over the last three years! There is no trust in your lot.
People being let off on a daily basis, no deterrent of prison, in fact under Gauke he allowed mobiles to order in more and stop sentnces under six months! Gauke was clear tent to allow serial rapists Warbouys out of jail. It took Khan to stop his release! Do not even mention ……….lmale Muslim gangs around the country sexually abusing young white girls, as pointed out by a Hannan. There should be a public inquiry for this ……….. Explain to us mortals why Rudd, Clarke and Gauke were not sacked after their article in the Mail and acting against collective responsibility when were told by Mayhab it was in place?
There is no conservatism to the Tory party, anyone remotely like a conservative is sidelined and made irrelevant. Look at Cameron’s cabinet and it is the same EU fanatic trouble makers being vocal now!
July 7, 2019
Totally agree. time to remove the politicization of the ‘service’ and return to a force
July 7, 2019
The only way to reduce crime is to deter people from committing it. For this to be achieved, the whole of the criminal justice system has to work to that end as it doesn’t matter how many police are deployed if arrests result in lenient sentences that do not deter. A cynic could argue that reducing crime is not in the self interests of those working in the criminal justice system as their jobs depend on criminal activity.
July 7, 2019
In big red bus terms, is that 20,000 net or gross?
July 7, 2019
In big red bus terms: –
For Leavers – it is a big number;
For Remoaners – it is a lie.
From little acorns big myths grow?
July 7, 2019
Acorn, The majority of people in the UK know the difference between net and gross by reference to their pay, so don’t be a silly-billy.
July 7, 2019
Good morning.
We can all say more, more, more. But how are they going to be used ? Spying on people in Bookface or Twatter just in case they say something ‘offensive’ to some snowflake !
We need policies, direction and leadership. I see little in the way of any of that.
July 7, 2019
More and more get put in offices and on 9-5 jobs. Unless there is a change to put them operationally on the streets it would be a waste of money. The Tory govt saw officers walking the beat was waste of resource and wanted PCSO on th cheap instead put no offic read in non desk jobs. A stupid folly on all grounds.
The met have more officers in desk jobs dealing with alleged hate crime than smaller forces have in total number! i.e. Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Newport, etc etc. Mayhab has destroyed policing as we know it, it is another of her legacies.
July 7, 2019
Mark B, I agree. PC policing of Fakebook and Twatter seems to take up an inordinate amount of Plod’s time, even now. Perhaps 20,000 extra would not be needed if the police were deployed to catch real criminals rather than people who just define non-PC words on Fakebook.
July 8, 2019
I wouldn’t have thought an actual police officer was policing social media it is more a function for an administrator, support worker, and someone in leadership of those departments at the end of their police career who are looking for a less strenuous, fitness required part of the job or a police officer that is finding street policing too stressful and could be redeployed, that’s what you’d do in private business use all resources effectively and efficiently.
July 7, 2019
Police are being drowned in a sea of laws and regulations coming out of government, all of which require training courses. Any extra police officers must be deployed to the front line not siphoned off into specialist departments or wasted in Political correctness training courses.
July 8, 2019
To do this nowadays this police officer would need lots of martial arts, protection, and defence training, it’s getting very dangerous out there and shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. The police really do need to up their fitness and self-defence requirements for outside policing posts.
July 7, 2019
Drugs rings should be tackled by going after the top echelons. Very little will be achieved by picking up child drugs mules, apart from in a child welfare sense.
At the top of the police force we want thief takers, not the PC social scientists that Bramshill has been churning out since the advent of Roy Jenkins.
Recruit from the population that has already experienced working life for at least five years. Straight from school is not a solution. We then want them interactive with the general public, not closed off in vehicles. We do not want a police force that fulfills an ethnic or gender balance, we want the best available irrespectve of ethnicity or gender.
I have no idea how large a police intelligence collating organisation we have nationally, but it is very important that this is given a high priority on the basis of know your enemy. While it is good that those on the ground have local experience, many police functions need to be national and international.
One of the greatest barriers to successful policing is the all pervading political correctness, an umbrella
under which crime thrives. You our politicians are where the guilt lies, you have been dining out on it with the collusion of the media for far too long. We need politics and media to tell it as it is.
Another barrier is the EU and it’s freedom of movement. Boris’s intent to give long term illegals permanence, estimated at 2 million, may please some but not if it includes any with a criminal record. I would deport those of overseas origin at the end of their sentence with no appeal, along with their families. A deterrent in itself to criminality. Who needs a multicultural society with an active criminal element.
July 7, 2019
Absolutely spot on. We are sick of being made to feel wrong by the authorities, bombarded 24-7 by racial and gender propaganda through TV screens now on all channels and BBC who are without question off the scale as they now filter every broadcasting decision through the prism of diversity, race, gender and sexuality. It’s out of control. It’s becoming immersive. It’s pure, unadulterated PROPAGANDA
July 7, 2019
Agricola, what a well thought out, sensible and practical post. I think most decent people feel this way. There needs to be much more respect for the police doing their job. When I see the verbal and physical abuse they receive on a daily basis I wonder why anyone would want the job. Police handling of suspects can often look violent but how do you deal with some drug or alcohol fuelled yob when they are resisting arrest? The sentences handed down to what are often persistent offenders are risible. Hard labour and perhaps a stint in the armed forces wouldn’t go amiss. We are too soft. Any immigrant who is having to be watched for terrorism should be deported along with the family. We are having to keep too many in prison and then look after them when they come out and still keep a watchful eye on them. Get tough!
July 7, 2019
Realistic sentencing in the Courts would be helpful too. The judicial system also needs to remove its PC criteria and EU driven mantra.
July 7, 2019
While I mostly agree with you, I do not think the military would want them in it’s ranks. The military are in a very different place now to where they were in my days of National Service. Some twenty years ago I spent a day as a guest of the station commander of one of our main NATO training bases and met many of the technicians looking after the aircraft. What a bright bunch they were, I suspect brighter than some who flew the aircraft. There is little room for our criminal fraternity among them, and I would include the army here.
Some 59 years past I had the privaledge of spending two years as an instructor at one of our Outward Bound Mountain Schools. We had pupils from Borstall to Eton and I think we largely made them aware of their potential in life via the experiences we put them through. This was well before health and safety expanded into every aspect of our lives and impinged on the challenge. I would point out that we injured few and killed no one. That sort of course for young criminals might do a lot of good providing you could create the social mix we achieved all those years ago. I would also add that much of the success hung on the quality of the instructors. Most of ours at the time were from the sharp end of the military and a great experience to work with. I often speculate on who learnt most about life and leadership, the pupils or the instructors.
July 8, 2019
Why has this missed out on moderation. It all relates to persoal experience and is no way very contraversial.
July 7, 2019
Agricola, Good comment. I would deport any foreign national found guilty of an imprisonable offence immediately. Why waste money on keeping that person in a UK prison at UK taxpayers expense?
July 8, 2019
Agree for the future, but it has not been possible while we were in the EU.
July 7, 2019
Of course it should be noted that, if it happens, the 20.000 Police will only replace the 20.000 that were cut. This was very short sighted in the first place.
The Government should stop sending Police off to chase āinappropriate touching ā and the like, that go back 30/40 years, and stop using the Police as an arm of the Social Services. We need them to take the gloves off, and get tough!!
July 7, 2019
If you want to find where the police waste taxpayer’s money, read the police college guide on hate crime. Then look at the ludicrously high salaries and pensions of chief officers. Anyone would think we were employing geniuses.
July 7, 2019
The main problem with the police is the mad priorities they seem to have been given. What is needed is some sensible management ensuring they actually do what the public want for a change. They seem to have virtually give up completely on very many areas. On shop lifting they even advertised the fact which hardly helps deter crime.
Cresida Dick said she want the London Police force to reflect the ‘diversity of Londoners’ and to recruit the best of the best. Clearly she has not realised that the first requirement totally conflicts with the second.
Perhaps she need to think occasionally.
July 8, 2019
Daffy Dick was chosen by May. Birds of a feather etc.
July 7, 2019
Perhaps if we had a punishment that really fitted the crime system, then the Police would not need to waste so much time arresting the same re-offending people over and over again.
Time to build some more prisons me thinks ?
July 7, 2019
Agreed. The current sentencing rules need to be binned, as all this is doing is sending the wrong message to criminals and not protecting the victim.
July 7, 2019
If you call the police when someone is having a loud party they tell you – not us guv, call the Environment Agency. Of course they work 10-3 same as other public employees so it’s no good at midnight.
When you do call them they send you to the local council, who send you to some specialist body they’ve set up that will only deal with the issue if you’ve tried to reason with the drug-crazed revellers. Which is not possible.
The police need reform, not just money and more plods. Same as the NHS – May giving them more cash without anything said about what it was for is a feeble attempt at pretending to govern a country.
What we have seen announced so far as ‘policy’ is just a bunch of random spending pledges – no attempt at a vision. The useless interviewers never ask ‘How is this part of an overall vision for society?’. Or even part of an overall vision for health provision or law and order.
At some point the right has to start making the case for private sector involvement in health – the policy is to provide the best possible care, probably free at the point of use (except to discourage abuse, such as a Ā£5 for a Dr visit) and only for British citizens. The rest – such as how that happens – is how the policy is delivered.
It is shocking that so few politicians understand the difference between policy and these random soundbite announcements to which they attach that tag – fuelled by a media who probably can’t spell policy these days, since editors became bloggers on editors’ salaries.
July 7, 2019
It’s not about numbers, it’s about destroying a politics that has infected our entire public sector and one that prevents the authorities from targeting REAL CRIME.
The politics of identity, feminism, progressive tosh, the fascism of hate-crime narrative is all designed to politicise the State sector and turn the police into political agents of the State whose job it now is to monitor we say, what we do and and how we think. And your party and that filth in opposition is responsible
You can’t look at people these days without being prosecuted.
This is 1984 Tory style desperate to embrace Labour’s liberal left political agenda and appear woke
The party in Parliament is pathetic
I don’t believe Tory MPs realise just how pathetic they look to the outside world. Trying to embrace an agenda that is pure Guardian newspaper. Have you any idea how weak that looks?
You either crush liberal left politics throughout the UK and give us back our freedom of expression or we’ll simply vote BP who are now the true party of freedom
White misandry is now official Tory party and State policy
July 7, 2019
Very true. The reality of the situation is that over the past two decades between them, the Labour and Conservative Parties have achieved many of the objectives of the odious neo-marxist Frankfurt School:
1. The creation of racism offences.
2. Continual change to create confusion
3. The teaching of sex and homosexuality to children
4. The undermining of schoolsā and teachersā authority
5. Huge immigration to destroy identity.
6. The promotion of excessive drinking
7. Emptying of churches
8. An unreliable legal system with bias against victims of crime
9. Dependency on the state or state benefits
10. Control and dumbing down of media
11. Encouraging the breakdown of the family
I doubt many Tory MP’s care about what they have been party to let alone have any plans to correct it.
July 7, 2019
“As for the liberal idea, its proponents are not doing anything. They say that all is well, that everything is as it should be. But is it?….The same is happening in Europe [as in the US]. I discussed this with many of my colleagues, but nobody has the answer. The say they cannot pursue a hardline policy for various reasons. Why exactly? Just because. We have the law, they say. Well, then change the law!” – Vladimir Putin in the FT, who for all his faults, apparently, is not advocating the destruction of Western civilisation.
Any one who has looked behind the curtain will know who the enemy is, an enemy that is so devious, cunning and relentless that it has persuaded our politicians to enact laws that does their work for them, whether it’s the facilitation of third world immigration and asylum, the promotion of outcomes in pursuit of diversity and equality of the sexes (and genders) rather than beneficial in terms of payback on investment in human resources and on the maintenance of our culture including normal families to produce the next generation. All these laws need to be removed and others need to be put in place such as the criminalisation of the promotion of miscegenation by the media for the simple and obvious reason that an outcome that is more likely to result in a single mother dependent on the state is an outcome that no state should encourage.
July 8, 2019
forthurst – your last paragraph is a simple statement of truth. Our couples one working full time, one part-time start a family, their private rentals going up higher and higher every year, council tax going up every year (whilst the local councils also increase other costs like car parking, payment to collect garden waste, childcare clubs, etc. because their payroll and pension costs are going up and up and up so high now) waiting on social housing waiting lists for five years and more struggling to make ends meet, better she kicks the guy out and then she’ll get a lower cost council house, better off with the State as Dad and Dad ends up struggling to pay for housing, child maintenance, and getting to work.
July 7, 2019
Yes no doubt more police will be needed for the times ahead.
July 7, 2019
Boris Johnsonās spending and tax plans are not balanced.
He is promising to cut taxes. He is also promising vast spending increases.
He is clearly lying about one of them.
But then we all know from past experience that you cannot trust a word he says.
Extraordinary that a party should I pick its biggest charlatan as leader.
Reply We need tax cuts and spending increases and can afford them if just leave
July 7, 2019
Andy, Properly managed the UK will benefit by up to 11% of UK GDP by leaving the EU, so there is plenty of money to spend on the right things, as well as on tax cuts. By the way Andy, I cannot trust a word you say.
July 7, 2019
Police should tackle all traditional crime, and forget the nonsense of going after ‘thought criminals’ which is helping to destroy society’s trust in them. They should not ignore petty stuff to concentrate on the bigger problems. Crime is deterred and prevented by the fear of being caught far more than a prison sentence, but these are far too lenient anyway, even if they are applied. Tolerating narcotic drugs is a grave dereliction by the police and courts and the murders in London in particular are a direct result of police neglect and the wrong priorities.
So they should apply the ‘broken window’ method. If a petty criminal is caught quickly and punished properly and promptly that person is less likely to try again and then move onward to bigger things.
July 7, 2019
Zero tolerance has been proved to be effective. Wasn’t it Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the 90s who achieved success with this approach? Though of course the bleeding hearts had something to say, even though his methods were effective.
July 7, 2019
No it’s far easier for them to sit in their office trawling Twitter and Facebook and prosecuting anyone that says something not politcially correct. Saves all that walking about and getting cold and wet.
July 8, 2019
I have noticed that on fine sunny days the police go out with their speed trap vans. There is a bridge on the A23 where the road goes downhill and cars speed up unless the driver notices.
July 9, 2019
Are they actual police officers who operate these though? I’d have thought that was a job for a Traffic Enforcement Officer or Police Community Support Officer if not it should be. We need less PCSO on the dangerous streets and more actual trained martial arts/self-defence expert police officers.
July 7, 2019
The police have, to a large extent, lost the trust of the law abiding and the publicity attached to some aspects of their policing draws contempt. The emphasis on policing social media for ‘hate’ and championing the 21st Century victimhood status of taking offence, makes criminals of ordinary people expressing their right to free speech. Comedians say grossly offensive things and some are let off and all is forgotten in a trice whilst others face protracted court proceedings and fines for things that in previous times would have been let lie and quickly forgotten. There seems to have been a directive from on high that the nature of our society is to be changed and not for the better, by pandering to the terminally offended or, perhaps even worse, to those who might possibly be offended unless we nip everybody’s freedoms in the bud, just in case. The police need to stop making a big show of their LGBGTXYZ and PC credentials and concentrate on enforcing the equality laws already on the statute book. words left out ed parades does nothing to instil respect in the mind of the public and even less, I suspect, in criminals. The police seem to have suffered from an agenda which is far removed from policing and maintaining order in society. Why, for instance, were the Extinction Rebellion protesters allowed to disrupt the streets of the capital for days on end? We have laws and the police should be there to enforce them, not to virtue signal how hip and ‘out there’ they are with the in-crowd. They need to do their job and do it well and leave the virtue signalling to those who are better able to carry it off, like politicians.
July 7, 2019
The order of blame is as follws:-
1.
The Home Office from Roy Jenkins to Theresa May
2.
The politicians who aquiesed to the PC drivel that flowed fron 1. above.
3.
The social scientist agenda at Bramshill, the senior police officer training establishment.
4.
The disemination of PC drivel on a drip down system that now permeates our police force. You go along with it and get up the ladder or reject it and stay a PC.
5.
Ultimately the blame rests with politicians who allowed it to happen against the wishes of the majority of the people.
July 7, 2019
Agricola, Yes!
July 8, 2019
In Sussex they have painted police cars with pretty rainbow colours and stars. Do they realize how this makes most members of the public think they look, apart from the waste of resources. The phrase ‘bunch of …… words left out. ed. comes to mind
July 7, 2019
Police should patrol both streets and roads.
They should always side with the victim of crime not the criminal.
They should stop trying to be social workers.
They should no longer be sent on socialist courses ( Common Purpose?) where they are told that they should act out of their grade and that there is no such thing of failure.
(Oh and that anyone who appears remotely middle class is the problem in any situation.)
Police should respond to every crime.
Hate laws should be abolished.
They should be apolitical which they are not.
No doubt though if we actually get more police it will just be more of the same!
July 7, 2019
*as failure….not of
I blame the stress of reCAPTCHAš
July 7, 2019
Forget it. I blame the dumb progressive teaching methods now laid upon the poor schoolkids.
July 7, 2019
Police numbers is not necessarily the problem, itās how existing numbers are deployed that is important……and police are doing too much stuff that is not really policing.
Then you have the fact that 33% of constables are female. Whilst I do not disparage women officers, there are two points to acknowledge; 1) some situations really do require male strength and aggression, 2) women officers get pregnant and canāt do frontline work, the have long maternity leave, but are still on strength, and when they come back, the often donāt want to do shift work any more……..hence numbers deployed to do non-essential non-frontline work.
July 7, 2019
Indeed I saw some figures for doctors showing that female doctors who cost about 400K to train work on average about half the number of hours as doctors over a life time. With career breaks, preferring part time work and similar. So they cost twice as much to train per useful hour worked.
You need twice the number to get the same output.
July 7, 2019
Agree with this. My own GP was off more than she was at work due to 3 pregnancies very close together. She was only back at work for a short time before she was pregnant again and took the full year off. All this maternity leave is a problem for employers. I think I remember it was another stupid move by Nick Clegg.
July 7, 2019
Lifelogic, Up to a point Lord Copper. Doctors tend to put in a lot of extra unpaid hours. The main issue with that is the government (eventually) gets the information about the paid hours, not the real hours. NHS management mislead the government. So I would be very wary of hours worked figures available to the public.
July 7, 2019
It is reported that Khan has recruited 400 people purely to monitor ‘hate speech’. Is this true? I would much prefer policing to concentrate on ALL violent crime. Sticks and stones, etc!
July 7, 2019
Probably knowing what the hopeless Khan is like. Listen to his pathetic performance at the question sessions he does.
July 7, 2019
It was blindingly obvious, except to Cameron, that May was a disastrous Home Secretary, now the reality is sinking in, fewer police = more crime.
July 7, 2019
Letās hope they are not used to silent populists.
July 7, 2019
I hope the 20,000 are not to boost presence at the next ridiculous Green rally somewhere. The police can produce hundreds to stand (or sit in coaches in side streets) and watch morons and rent-a-crowd spend their weekends destroying travel for innocent public and tourists. Better spent patrolling streets in troubled areas at night, teams to spot smoke belching cars/ lorries, checking cars parked with no tax/insurance, attending burglaries, vandalism. Need the boys in blue? – – not much chance, all in the office form filling.
July 7, 2019
Whatever happen to the good old SPG? The Police Special Patrol Group. Always mobile, always ready to Act when called upon, with the powers to do a proper job . It seems that the replacement, the TSG, Territorial Support Group, are so low key that there are nowhere to be seen.
July 7, 2019
Good Day,
“The public want fast response policing where officers can arrive promptly at a crime scene or location of possible crimes and disorder”
Agreed -but maybe the public might also like more police presence with a view to deterring crime in the first-place and also to cut out the waste of resources as predicated by London’s good-for-nothing mayor. Cut out searching the internet for “hate-speech”, cut out diversity & revert to traditional policing.
July 7, 2019
I believe an even bigger benefit to law and order would be declaring freedom of speech omline thus freeing up a large amount of police time.
I can point to the US that shows this works, it also lets people be honest online – I actually want to know if someone has asty beliefs so I can ignore them and choose to minimise their involvement in public life.
July 7, 2019
How to deal with many crimes which would help the victim and the criminal – not in all cases no doubt.
What about having the criminal pay the victim, I think double, for the damage caused, car theft and writeoffs or any tangible monetary loss to compensate fully. How will the prisoner pay? According to his productive ability he should be offered paid (amount to be judged) hourly employment so that the more he works and more quickly pays off his debt the sooner his sentence will end – good incentive plus a few hundred Ā£s in hos pocket when he gets out. He can choose higher paid work if choosing a better skill to learn which helps when he gets out too. If he doesn’t want to work then the incarceration will be appropriately longer.
Yes of course setting up prison workshops or having outside work places is not easy but if some provision for this scheme could happen then it could help all sides, no?
If criminals cause damage and then know if caught must pay twice over for it does this engender some deterrence as the more costly the damage the longer they will be inside.
I am surprised that it is only now that it is proposed that if murderers don’t reveal where the bodies are hidden then their sentences can be extended. I had thought years ago that criminals who don’t reveal where the loot/money is hidden should stay in jail until they do reveal it!
July 7, 2019
Sir John, as usual, there arrives some very good comments on this platform, and many good points that could open up greater in-depth discussion. However, will this happen with Boris? He does show a distinct lack of vision. Does he not have enough time to think and ponder?
Extra police is just more plasters. The traditional conservative view of the family as a central unit of society is never mentioned anymore. The family unit has been left behind and the breakdown of the traditional family unit is the reason for so much of our crime in this country. It’s back to basics please. Boris needs a radical team of common sense people. I know the public sector doesn’t do mavericks, but we actually do need some while going through brexit. I’ve yet to come across any remainers who I would class as mavericks. I only see shivering sheep who can’t see that the grass can be greener on the other if they would only take the effort to stretch their necks out and have serious look.
Oh, and by the way, I’ve voted boris even though his pamphlet barely said anything.
July 7, 2019
Detaching Local Councils power in directing Police to community work, would be a good thing, such as going round streets and houses to determine whether they wish signs putting on lampposts telling anyone who can spy the small signs that they shouldn’t go around hawking or knocking on doors without appointment, which in practice don’t work, and in attending whatever TARA or other ‘community’ groups set up by politically motivated LAs. This would lead to increased police numbers in more profitable work, cutting down on police expenses and money used by LAs by silly public relation exercises in getting whole teams of workmen and materials wasted at tax-payers expense whilst LAs clamour for more funding to deal with the “old and vulnerable”
One sees 90% of LAs are calling for more funding. Tell them they’ll get it if the government sees a sign on a lamppost requesting it, otherwise not. They’ll demand funding for that too and government will provide a big box of money to do it.
Don’t award Heads of Met Areas with Knighthoods, It encourages them to behave even more dishonestly.
July 7, 2019
Retired Police Chiefs have called for a complete Royal Commission Inquiry into Policing as it has lost its way, diverted from its traditional role of Law and Order, with calls to scrap Police Commissioner roles and integrate specialists and cross over Depts inter-communications.
It is stretched in all directions from presence on streets, burglary follow ups , drug busting, knife crime, car crime, cyber crime, child crime, illegal immigrants etc.
It would do well to start off cultivating listening to local neighbourhood watch folks and catching some criminals for the word to get around.
It needs to be backed up by tougher sentences and clearing out the political judges who undermine the police.
July 7, 2019
Twenty thousand or forty thousand will not matter if the criminal justice system fails.
Junior barristers are shockingly badly paid (approaching legal minimum wage levels on an hours/reward basis), courts are being closed, Recorders told there is not enough work, and cases are listed now well into 2020, so I am told. On-the-job training of future QC’s is thereby jeopardized and some juniors cannot afford to continue in the profession. Worse, without sufficient and proper trials, criminals will go unpunished.
July 8, 2019
Boris should demand that the 20,000 extra Police are all constables up to a maximum rank of sargeant.
July 8, 2019
Ed….yes, effective boys in blue. Not promoted politically correct savvy talkers.
July 8, 2019
We don’t need more police, we need more effective police. Many police are happier to be heavy handed with law abiding people than to seek out and confront actual criminals. The more police we have, the more incentivised they will be to ‘police’ the general public, finding petty offences and looking for hostility that they can jump on. See the Crimebodge youtube channel if you are unaware of what’s going on.