Responding to Home Secretary Amber Rudd's recent statement
on increases in violent crime, Carshalton and Wallington MP
said:
"It’s nonsense on stilts for the Home Secretary to argue
lower police numbers don’t matter in the fight against serious
crime, when evidence she hadn’t read said otherwise.
“’s desperate defence of police
cuts is a crude attempt to shield the Prime Minister from blame.
It was , when she was in charge of the
police, who so enthusiastically culled police officers.
“The problem for Rudd is that admitting that would amount
to the Conservatives acknowledging that ’s cuts to community police
during his term as Mayor were wrong, and that ’s slashing of police budgets
when she was Home Secretary bears some responsibility.”
The alarming rise in violent crime in London and elsewhere
of course can’t just be blamed on police cuts – there are always
multiple causes of crimes. Liberal Democrats have consistently
argued for a broad range of measures, with a much greater focus
on crime prevention and investment in communities and young
people.
Commenting on police cuts in Sutton Tom added:
‘‘The strongest evidence suggests that a return to
well-resourced community-based policing, with intelligence-led
targeting, is the best way to cut crime. Instead, what is being
proposed are cuts to police numbers by the Home Secretary and a
merger of police forces by Labour’s London Mayor which
will inevitably lead to resources being dragged away from
Sutton to higher-crime areas like Croydon, risking Sutton’s
status as one of the safest boroughs in London.
“In the last few months I have been contacted by many
worried residents. That’s why I’ve invited the former Deputy
Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, , and London Assembly Member
to a public meeting where
residents will hear about the effect that these changes could
have on their lives and our area. ”
At the start of this year, police numbers at a national
level hit record lows, combined with a 14% increase in crime,
with knife and gun attacks increasing the most; the fastest rate
since national records began.
