Shadow Home Sec’s ‘police hubs’
NEIGHBOURHOOD “police hubs” would open in every community if Labour wins the next election, in a bid to tackle the surge in anti-social behaviour.
Shadow Home Secretary Nick ThomasSymonds will today say the new units would mean more “eyes, ears and boots on the ground” to reassure local people.
He would also launch a major recruitment drive for volunteer special constables to increase the visibility of uniformed police.
Each hub would have a neighbourhood crime prevention team who locals could pop in to talk to.
They would create a “next generation”
Neighbourhood Watch using technology including video doorbells and WhatsApp groups.
The number of people who say they have never seen an officer on foot patrol has doubled in England and Wales since the Tories came to power in 2010.
There are also 8,400 fewer officers while community support officers are down 7,600, police staff by 7,500 and special constables have fallen by 6,300.
Mr Thomas-Symonds will say:
“In Tory Britain, people say you never see police on the beat any more. That school children feel afraid at the bus stop. That people feel unsafe going out after dark.
“With me as Home Secretary, if there is trouble on your street Labour will make sure that someone is there. You will see officers on the beat.”
Adopting the famous Tony Blair attack line, Mr Thomas-Symonds will accuse the Tories of being “soft on crime and soft on causes of crime”.
Labour plans to fund the new hubs by scrapping Boris Johnson’s maritime national flagship, set to cost £200million to build and £83million a year to run.