GET A GRIP ON CRIME, MINISTER!
Home Office policing chief under fire for defending ‘hate’ probes
A HOME Office minister was accused of passing the buck yesterday after she defended the investigation by police of hate crimes.
Victoria Atkins blamed decisions to probe wolf-whistling and similar matters on chief constables and elected crime commissioners.
She was also urged to ‘get a grip’ after denying a link between police cuts and a rise in murders. In a stumbling BBC interview, Miss Atkins insisted the spike in gang-related violence in London and other cities was not due to a reduction in officer numbers but because the nature of crime had changed. She was put on the spot following the fatal stabbing of a man in Anerley, south London, on Sunday – the fourth in the capital in five days and one of 118 killings this year.
Miss Atkins spoke out after Sara Thornton, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said officers should be allowed to get back to tackling burglary and serious offending rather than so- called hate crimes, 94,000 of which were investigated in 2017-18.
Miss Atkins, a junior minister for crime, said there was more than one reason behind the bloodshed – including the rise of so- called ‘county lines’ drugs gangs.
‘The nature of crime is changing,’ she said. ‘Gangs are far more ruthless than they used to be. The levels of violence which doctors are now seeing in A&Es show that incidents which before perhaps wouldn’t have resulted in fatalities now are resulting in fatalities.
‘The police and others have to face up to the reality that criminals are changing their crime types and we have to be able to tackle that.’
On claims that the crime epidemic was linked to falling police numbers, Miss Atkins said that ‘wasn’t supported by the evidence’.
Earlier this year, internal Home Office research suggested cuts had ‘likely contributed’ to a rise in violence. But that document also appeared to contradict itself,
‘Gangs are more ruthless’
stating it was unlikely that ‘lack of deterrence was the catalyst for serious violence’. Miss Atkins also played down the idea that political focus on hate crimes such as misogyny was distracting attention from core policing priorities.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey said: ‘It’s astonishing but true that Conservative ministers clearly don’t believe increasing police numbers has a role to play in tackling Britain’s violent crime wave. They really need to get a grip.
‘What this minister said is flatly contradicted by the Home Office’s own analysis, leaked earlier this year. It stated clearly that Tory police cuts have “likely contributed” to the rise in serious violence.
‘ It’s also contradicted by the Police Federation, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Metropolitan Police commissioner, who have all warned that Tory cuts are harming forces’ ability to do their jobs and keep us all safe.
‘The police shouldn’t be forced to choose between investigating serious violence and investigating hate crimes. The Government must give them the resources to do both.’
Lord Hogan-Howe, who served as Metropolitan Police commissioner from 2011 to 2017, stressed the need for extra resources as the Government was tackled at Westminster over cuts to police numbers.
Calling for more technology to help officers identify those carrying knives, he added: ‘The investment of resources when we have lost 24,000 police officers is vital.’
AT 5pm on Thursday, 15-year-old Jai Sewell walked 100 yards from his home in suburban south London to buy some chicken for tea. He never came back. Ambushed by two young men, he was stabbed to death on a busy street in an attack that was as brazen as it was brutal. The killers showed no pity and, crucially, had no fear of being caught.
Jai was the 20th teenager to die in London this year in a chilling knife-crime epidemic that has exploded on to the streets of all our major cities.
In the face of this bloodbath, the response of the authorities – at local and national level – has been positively woeful.
Instead of uniting to grasp the problem, they have engaged in a pathetic and pointless blame game.
Like a cracked record, London mayor Sadiq Khan drones on about Government cuts – but does nothing.
And in a deeply unimpressive interview yesterday, Policing Minister Victoria Atkins blamed ‘changing crime types’ (whatever they are) for the carnage.
Crime commissioners wring their hands, while the police themselves are so preoccupied with hate crime and historical sex offences they appear to have given up the challenge of reclaiming the streets.
With breathtaking complacency, Mr Khan says it could take ten years to bring the violence under control.
Ten years! At current rates that means another 200 dead teenagers and another 200 grieving, uncomprehending mothers. We need action now.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid – ultimately responsible for public safety – must bring all relevant parties together and thrash out a viable, coordinated plan.
The police must be brought out from behind their desks, mayors and crime commissioners must prioritise violent crime above all else and where resources are genuinely needed, Mr Javid must make them available.
This is nothing less than a national emergency. The time for platitudes is over.