Sunday People

Create a minister for street safety, PM told

- Nigel Nelson POLITICAL EDITOR

NEARLY six in ten voters believe Boris Johnson should appoint a Cabinet Minister to keep Britain’s streets safe.

A Survation poll found most people want the PM to make the security of women and girls a higher priority.

It follows the horrific murders of Sarah Everard and teacher

Sabina Nessa, 28, right.

Some 58% of those surveyed want a new role of Secretary of

State for Street Safety created.

Just 56% believe women should trust the police and fewer than four in ten believe they are mostly safe while out and about.

And 44% say Met commission­er Cressida Dick should quit over the force’s failure to spot that Sarah’s killer, Wayne Couzens, was a danger. A spokesman for London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “The

Mayor understand­s that public trust in the police has been very severely damaged and how much work needs to be done to rebuild confidence.”

In the wake of Couzens being locked up for life last month, Police Scotland have introduced new verificati­on checks for lone officers.

It means members of the public encounteri­ng the police north of the border now have the right to have the officer’s personal radio switched to loudspeake­r so that control room staff can confirm their identity.

Alternativ­ely, the officer will call 999 and allow the person to speak to the control room.

Police Scotland acted after it was revealed Couzens had used his warrant card to falsely arrest Sarah on a South London street before kidnapping, raping and murdering her.

Survation interviewe­d 1,040 adults online between on October 6 and 7.

 ?? ?? LIGHT AMID THE DARKNESS: A vigil for tragic Sarah in March
LIGHT AMID THE DARKNESS: A vigil for tragic Sarah in March

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