Police & Crime Commissioner Welcomes New powers for police to tackle neighbourhood crime
Last week, I was pleased to see that, after 7 months in power, the new Labour Government announced one of the biggest legislative overhauls in policing powers for decades.
The new Police and Crime Bill will see the introduction of a raft of new laws designed to respond to the publics priorities by tackling neighbourhood crimes such as antisocial behaviour, shop theft and street crime as well as addressing the highest-harm crimes such as knife crime, violence against women and girls, cybercrime, child sexual abuse, and terrorism.
Last year the police in England and Wales recorded over a million incidents of antisocial behaviour, 490,000 shop theft offences and 55,000 offences involving a knife or sharp instruments.
The reduction in police funding over the last 15 years has had a negative impact on the traditional model of neighbourhood policing. Here in Durham, we lost 27% of our officers between 2010 and 2020.
Not surprisingly, losing over a quarter of officer strength has had a negative impact on police visibility and public confidence. I know this because some residents have told me they choose not to report crimes and anti-social behaviour because they felt the police do not have the resources to respond to their complaints.
That is why I welcome this new Bill, which contains many new tools and powers that will enable us to take more robust action to reduce crime and disorder on our streets and in our town and city centres and restore respect for law and order.
Since my election in 2021, I have been calling for Durham to get its officer numbers back to 2010 levels. So, I am pleased that these new laws will be backed up by the recruitment of extra neighbourhood policing roles. I have already been given £2 million pounds to start the recruitment of new officers and police officer recruitment is currently underway.
Some Key Measures in the Bill
Tackling antisocial behaviour
• Giving the police and others stronger powers to tackle antisocial behaviour by introducing Respect Orders.
• Removing the need for police to issue a warning before seizing vehicles, such as off-road bikes being used antisocially.
Tougher action on knife crime
• Creating a power to seize, retain and destroy bladed articles found on private property.
• Creating a new criminal offence of possessing a bladed article with the intent to cause harm.
Protecting retail workers
• Introducing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker, giving workers in shops up and down the country the protection they need.
Protecting vulnerable children and adults
• Criminalising moderators and administrators of websites that host child sexual abuse material.
Tackling violence against women and girls
• Creating a new offence covering spiking.
• Giving victims of stalking the right to know the identity of their perpetrator, alongside strengthening stalking protection orders.
Strengthening the supervision of offenders in the community
• Giving probation officers the power to polygraph test more serious offenders who have committed sexual or terrorism-motivated crimes.
Tougher action on drugs
• Expanding police powers to drug test more suspects on arrest, helping direct more drug users into treatment and away from illegal drugs.
In summary the new Crime and Policing Bill is about taking back our streets and town centres, restoring respect for law and order, and giving the police and local communities the support and tools they need to tackle local crime.