Brown tells police to keep officers on the beat
By admin. Filed in Uncategorized |
Gordon Brown has told police forces to keep officers on the beat in an effort to increase the public’s confidence in law and order.
The prime minister said it was not “acceptable” to miss the government target of having neighbourhood Pcs on patrol for at least 80% of the time.
Mr Brown also told councils and police forces not to cut budgets for front-line law enforcement.
In a speech, he disputed the Tories’ claim that Britain is “broken”.
The prime minister’s comments come as the main political parties step up their campaigning ahead of the general election, which is expected to be held on 6 May.
The government says Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) should spend at least 80% of their time on the beat, respond to non-emergency inquiries within 24 hours and hold monthly beat meetings.
In a speech in Reading, Mr Brown said: “At the pre-Budget report, we made the commitment to protect central government funding for front-line policing – because I know how important our police are to people, and so there will be no reason based on central government funding why police or PCSO numbers should fall.
“But police funding in this country has always and rightly been part national and part local.
“So my challenge to local authorities and police authorities around the country is to match our commitment to protecting front-line policing – or else explain to their communities why they are not prepared to do so.”
Mr Brown also said the risk of being a victim of crime was the lowest since the British Crime Survey started in the early 1980s.
But he added: “We must understand the fear of crime and what’s behind it. Fear of crime is higher when people don’t see police on the streets, when they don’t believe that police are able to deal with things that matter to them.”
Mr Brown said the use of CCTV and DNA technology was “crucial” in the fight against crime.
People would be able to petition online for “extraordinary” meetings with police chiefs, to raise matters of concerns, he added.
Mr Brown said: “We don’t tackle the fear of crime cultivating it, by claiming our society is broken… Sometimes as damaging as the fear of crime is the crime of fear.”
