David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab):...I absolutely agree, and I pay tribute
to my hon. Friend’s efforts in this area. It is right that the
Government should do that. I am looking to the Minister to show
political leadership on this. For example, 98% of the current
police and crime commissioners’ policing plans make no reference to
shop theft, 63% make no reference to business crime, 72% make no
reference to prolific offending and 79% make no reference to
addiction, drug treatment or drug...Request free trial
(Delyn) (Lab):...I absolutely
agree, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s efforts in this area.
It is right that the Government should do that. I am looking to the
Minister to show political leadership on this. For example, 98% of
the current police and crime commissioners’ policing plans make no
reference to shop theft, 63% make no reference to business crime,
72% make no reference to prolific offending and 79% make no
reference to addiction, drug treatment or drug recovery, which are
key to preventing shop theft. What pressure will the Minister put
on Police
and Crime Commissioners for their
actions?
(Harrow West)
(Lab/Co-op):...Finally, I have two specific points. An extra £1
million from the Metropolitan police budget for Harrow West would
enable a return to the ward-based teams of a sergeant, two police
constables and three police community support officers, who could
gather intelligence about crime within our area, find out who is
committing it, and react more quickly when retail crime takes
place. Our courts need more resources to handle cases more quickly.
Working with Police
and Crime Commissioners they need to be able to
direct efforts to tackle the root causes behind some of the retail
crime, including the drug dependency and mental health issues that
others have mentioned...
Dr (Stroud)
(Lab/Co-op):...I want to commend two
organisations. The all-party parliamentary group on retail crime
has been very valuable. There are many all-party groups. They
spread themselves around and dilute our ability to do things, but
the APPG on retail crime has been valuable. I am close to the
Association of Convenience Stores. I have met representatives on
many occasions, and I am told that shops in Stroud have lost an
estimated £184,816 because of retail crime. The appeal has to be
made to Police and Crime Commissioners although they cannot deal
with the operational stuff. We have a very good police and crime
commissioner in Gloucestershire. has taken up this issue and
made it clear that he will be supportive, but we lack police
numbers. Far too often the police either do not turn up at all or
they turn up very late. They are incredibly sympathetic because
they know what has happened and they know about the impact on the
owners and staff, but they say it is impossible to do much about
it...
(High Peak) (Lab):...As we know,
20,000 police officers have been lost, but I ask the Minister what
his party proposes to do about the staff who are so often crucial
to bringing successful prosecutions. In Derbyshire, not only have
we lost just over 300 police officers, but over 400 support staff.
Those police community support officers, investigating officers and
detectives are often the ones who do the work to ensure that
criminals are not only caught, but successfully prosecuted. Without
those support staff, that work is very difficult and ties the hands
of police officers. I pay tribute to the Derbyshire police and
crime commissioner; this year, through additional council tax, we
had the funding to hire another 120 officers and staff. We got 58
additional police officers from that, but also 62 support staff
including PCSOs, investigating officers and detectives. That is
making a real difference to the ability of my local police force to
bring perpetrators to justice, which we must never forget is an
extremely important part of policing...
The Minister for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service
():...The right hon. Member for
Delyn raised the issue of local police plans, suggesting that we
put pressure on Police
and Crime Commissioners to include retail crime
in their plans. If this was a pressing issue in the high street,
one would hope that the police and crime commissioner would commit
to having it in their plan anyway. However, we have created a new
National Policing Board, which is looking at systemic issues across
the country that should be addressed by the whole policing family
in a concerted effort, and one area we are looking at is
neighbourhood crime. What we put into that basket has yet to be
fully agreed, and I will certainly consider putting retail crime in
there...
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