Cuts to policing is having a big impact on residents as crime increases

WELL the crime rate has soared in Hinckley, and made even higher than the official figures. The complete lack of police officers patrolling in the town is now beginning to show in numerous ways.

During the night, all Leicestershire market towns do not have any police officers unless they are required to attend from Leicester. The Chief Constable no doubt will say that due to Government cuts the numbers of police officers has reduced from 2,400 to 1,800 and he feels that basing them in Leicester in the centre of the county is the best option to make up for lack of man power.

Unfortunately numerous waves of criminals from areas outside Leicestershire know this, and believe that after committing crimes in Hinckley they are travelling away from the police response, coming from the opposite direction in Leicester, 13 miles away.

Members of the public in Hinckley who are now having their houses burgled in the middle of the night while they are a sleep upstairs deserve to feel safe in their homes. These are not isolated incidents, but a disturbing new trend in crime and the Chief Constable has conceded the fight and abandoned the public to its fate.

Leicestershire County Council is assisting the criminals by switching the street lighting off creating a comfort blanket for the criminals, because the criminals and their vehicles can not be seen by potential witnesses because it is so dark without street lighting.

David Tredinnick MP should not turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the affects his Conservative Party cuts are having on policing in his constituency. These cuts show that no thought was given to the consequences of such actions, a complete lack of common sense.

Informant and resident