Plans for Police forces to relentlessly pursue criminals and improve visibility and responsiveness have been welcomed by local MP Bob Seely in the same week that it is announced Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary is set to receive an additional £2million of funding.
The plans, set out in a letter to all Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners from the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman and Policing Minister Chris Philp, detail a number of specific expectations of forces up and down the country.
The Home Secretary expects Police to now take action when victims of theft provide officers with the location of a stolen mobile phone via tracking apps. Furthermore, officers should follow every reasonable line of enquiry in cases of shoplifting, including using CCTV to identify suspects and using clear images of any unknown suspects of crime to search the Police National Database for matches using facial recognition.
Police should also be operating on the basis of a zero-tolerance approach to drug misuse with officers using their powers, such as stop and search, as well as using available CCTV in areas affected by anti-social behaviour to identify suspects.
In the control room, forces are expected to be answering all emergency 999 calls in less than 10 seconds and all non-emergency contact, whether 101 or online, ‘as quickly as possible’. Forces have also been encouraged to publish 101 answering time data by March 2024.
The changes will be supported by the recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales and additional funding – which includes an additional £1million for each force (outside of the City of London) to fund anti-social behaviour hotspot patrolling plus £1million per force to fund Immediate Justice in relation to anti-social behaviour.
In the Home Secretary’s letter, it was said:
“All too often, the public feel that information they provide to the Police about a crime is not acted on. This must stop as it undermines public confidence and misses opportunities to solve crimes and bring perpetrators to justice.
Article continues below this advertisement “We understand that officers must make difficult operational prioritisation decisions. This will continue to play a crucial role in how the police keep the public safe. However, with the historic uplift in officer numbers and measures to reduce pressure on police time, you are empowered to thoroughly investigate more crimes. The Government and the public expect this.”
Responding to the news, Bob Seely MP has said:
“I welcome this approach. We need to get back to old-school policing using modern technology to assist. It is right that those who commit crimes, however petty, are brought to justice.
“People need to feel safe, and they need to have confidence in the Island’s police force.
“On the Island, things are changing for the better.
“We’ve got 30 new additional police officers. Soon we’ll be getting local named bobbies back on the streets as well so communities will be able to work together with their local policing teams to tackle crime in their areas.”
The Home Secretary has asked Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to respond to her by the end of September with their plans to improve confidence in local policing and police visibility.
Lot of ASB going on near me, reported but not acted on, been going on for months.
“Look! A bandwagon! Let’s jump on!”
That Braverman (how ill-named!) is a piece of work: police numbers reduced drastically on her government’s watch, demands more work be done with no extra resources. Smacks of modern slavery …
And your evidence for this? All the figures I have seen suggest the exact opposite.
As for your comment re. modern slavery. Well, that is beneath contempt.
Not going to be so effective until they sort out the Courts waiting lists! Justice system in near meltdown!
It’s a pity that punishments and sentences are not old-school anymore. That’s the nub of the problem.
Get Bobby’s on the beat, they can’t see much in a Car.
It worked in the old days.
Don’t you just love it when the wheel is reinvented – yet again !!
More visible,,? Shop lifters and druggies see them coming now in high Vis and marked cars so able to avoid/ hide etc. But most know even if caught not alot will happen if even get to Court , they have got away with 9 out of 10 crimes already. Last year only 2% conviction rate and then Court’s let half those off.
Corruption, Corruption, Corruption… Welcome to the new face of policing lol
As far as the Isle of Wight goes, I think we all know, or could take an educated guess, where the problem areas are on the Island and, to a large degree, even the people who are causing the problems.
If we, the general public, know this, I’m pretty sure that the police must be aware too or are they really that much out of touch with what’s going on?
A visible police presence in just a few areas of Newport, Ryde, Sandown and a few other places would go a long way to preventing a lot of the assaults, street crimes etc that happen. If every officer was required to do a stint of a few hours every week ‘on the beat’ (i.e. not sitting in a car somewhere) in these areas it would act as a deterrent and make the place feel safer.
How was mp in the meeting oh he stood erected and kept ejaculating but seemed to have run out of spunk. Good luck I guess