RP - manifesto A4 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 9
LABOUR WILL DELIVER
MORE FRONTLINE POLICE
Crime is becoming more complex and requires a wide range of policing resources
- some visible to the public and some less visible.
People have an expectation that they will see a
‘bobby on the beat’ in their local neighbourhood - a
reassuring presence, a familiar face and a proactive
pillar of the community. This is an expectation that I
share and always have done.
Do not believe the Conservative spin about
‘record police numbers’. An o昀케cial report from
Leicestershire’s Police Constable spells it out, making
clear that in our area police o昀케cer numbers are
below what they were back in 2009.
Sadly and unacceptably, in recent years policing
resources have become overstretched. Austerity cuts
under the Conservative Government from 2011 to
2018 saw 540 police o昀케ces cut from Leicestershire
Police. We can feel the operational impact from cuts
of this scale.
In that time the local population has grown, crime
has become more complex with new threats to
community safety and security and demands on the
police are ever-increasing, in a large part as a direct
result of Conservative spending cuts to wider public
services.
I said at the time these cuts to neighbourhood
policing were a public policy disaster. These cuts
were irresponsible and reckless: weakening local
policing, with long-term consequences for
public con昀椀dence.
We need more frontline police, including o昀케cers
and PCSOs, and a properly resourced police sta昀昀
structure to support e昀昀ective policing.
RORY PALMER
SAFER STREETS & STRONGER COMMUNITIES