Should all criminals be forced to serve their full sentences?
POLICE chiefs have to cut crime within three years, the Home Secretary said yesterday as she announced a £41.5million fund for blighted communities.
Priti Patel unveiled the extra cash for 18 areas worst affected by serious violence.
And she hailed a “new era of policing” with 20,000 extra officers in three years.
But she warned that there must be no “weak spots” in the fight against burglars, murderers, drugs gangs and thieves and that “crime still blights our towns, communities and villages”.
Officers must target low-level offenders before they “graduate from being shop thieves to knife carriers and violent offenders” she told the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and the National Police Chiefs’ Council Partnership Summit in central London.
Confidence
Ms Patel said: “In three years’ time, when the 20,000 additional officers are through the door, the public will want to see a difference.
“Less crime, safer streets, no excuses.The public won’t accept them and neither should we.As you became over-stretched, people no longer saw the police on the streets.They have not seen the police responding to offences affecting them or their communities.”
The Home Secretary said she is “unequivocal” in her support for officers but added: “We need to pull out all the stops to deliver the decline in crime” we want to see.
She added: “The British people deserve the freedom to live their lives without fear of violent criminals, terrorists and drug dealers.That is why I have made it my absolute priority to restore public confidence in our criminal justice system.
“Because, sadly, as crime evolved and became more complex, that has had a knock-on effect on the criminal justice system.
“Public frustration over community crime grew.”
Ms Patel said ministers will “press other services to do more so your officers aren’t forced to become makeshift health or social workers”.
Chief Constable Dave Thompson, of West Midlands Police, told the summit officers are “close to emptying the bins” as council budgets are cut to the bone.
And Ian Hopkins, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, said 20 per cent of time is spent on mental health incidents and six per cent finding missing children amid health cuts.
Ms Patel said she is trying to cut bureaucracy and to stop officers bailing out other services. She added: “In return, I ask that you concentrate on what we all agree matters most – cutting crime and protecting the people we serve.”