Kentish Express Ashford & District
First cost cuts, then payout
Council Partnership Summit 2020, she said: “Crime will not go away overnight, so we are making a long-term investment in our exceptional police.”
“Our mission is clear - to deliver on the people’s priorities: to cut crime and deliver the safer streets the public want.”
She said that while most people were never exposed to terrorists and murderers their lives could be blighted by more common crime.
She explained: “That is crime that is across our communities and on our streets.
“The burglaries, shoplifting and muggings that impact on daily life.
“It puts people’s homes and peoples businesses at risk, and under attack.
“And that causes huge harm, distress and disruption to towns and communities.
“And it is a fact that over time officers have become overstretched. People no longer saw police on the streets, or responding to offences affecting them.
“In 2018/19 only 16% said that bobbies on the beat were highly visible in their area – less than half the figure in 2009/10.
“Almost half said they had never seen a foot patrol in their area.”
She acknowledged that earlier this month Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services said the proportion of offences resulting in a charge in 2018/19 was under 8% - almost half the 2014/15 total.
She added: “HM Inspector Matt Parr recently warned that people had ‘rumbled’ the failure of the police to investigate mass crimes like car thefts, assaults and burglaries.
“You don’t need me to tell you – these are the very crimes that blight peoples lives and blight our communities.
“So it is important we all now work together to turn a page and we work to beat that kind of crime across all communities.”