Falling police numbers and rising crime no coincidence
SOUTH Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent reacts to Prime Minister Theresa May still failing to recognise the link between police numbers and rising crime – as sadly children are being murdered with knives on our streets.
Steve said: “I am utterly staggered and bewildered that the Prime Minister has suggested that rising violent crime and incidents of knife crime are not linked to the loss of 21,000+ police officers.”
“She does the public a disservice if she thinks that they will not see that.
“The issues are not just a coincidence and I think the public and even the media are getting wise to that. I see the Met Commissioner Cressida Dick herself has acknowledged the link. It is blindingly obvious.”
In 2010, there were 143,734 police officers in England and Wales. There are now 122,395. That’s 21,339 fewer. In 2010 South Yorkshire Police had 2,953. There are now 2,393. That’s 560 fewer.
According to Government statistics there’s been a 12% increase in police recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the past year – to 39,332 offences. It’s at the highest level since comparable data began to be collected in April 2010.
Latest Home Office figures show that in the year ending March 2018, there were 279,598 stops and searches conducted by police officers in England and Wales. This was a fall of 8% compared with the previous year and continuing the downward trend since the peak in the year ending March 2011 when there 1,229,324 stop and searches.
Speaking in Salisbury this week, Theresa May said there was ‘no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers’.
Steve added that there are other factors linked to the rise in knife crime – such as cuts to other public services increasing the demands on the police to assist with social services issues and NHS issues particularly around mental health.
“This draws police officers away from the fight against and the prevention of violent crime. But the bottom line is we need more police officers – we have 500+ fewer than we did nine years ago. The people that suffer are the public.”