HAVE WE LOST CONTROL OF OUR STREETS?
When armed raiders strike with impunity across the nation and the police face hundreds of millions more in cuts, we ask...
BRITAIN is reeling from a spate of savage crimes.
It has left the public asking: “Are police losing control of the streets?” In recent days, the country has seen a
wave of horrific attacks stretching frontline officers to the limit.
One of the most brutal was the robbery of a young woman left for dead by two men in a quiet London street. She bravely fought with her attackers but was punched so hard in the face, she is now fighting for her life. The muggers fled with her phone and bag.
Elsewhere in Britain, the Midlands has been hit by serious crimes, including three murders and a dozen shootings and stabbings. Ironically, two of the fatal shootings came during a firearms amnesty called by West Midlands Police. A huge rise in violent offences in Greater Manchester means North West people are more likely to be crime victims than anywhere else in England and Wales.
Cuts in police budgets of hundreds of millions of pounds mean there are now 121,929 officers in England and Wales – nearly 22,000 fewer than eight years ago, say rank-and-file leaders.
The Police Federation says ministers have ignored pleas to end budget reductions and bolster the number of frontline officers.
Federation chairman Calum Macleod said: “Our previous warnings are coming to light as we see an increase in violent crime and victims of crime not getting the service they deserve and expect.”
Mick Neville, a retired Scotland Yard detective chief inspector, said yesterday: “The police are very much in danger of losing control of the streets.
“For the last 10-15 years, senior police officers have become more concerned with political correctness and the ‘welfare’ of criminals, rather than victims of crime.
“This has been worsened by politicians interfering and supporting such measures.
“So we have stop and search reduced as it ‘upsets’ ethnic minorities, and criminals whizzing around on mopeds without fear of being chased, as officers have been forbidden from chasing them.”
Criminals stealing to feed a drug habit know police will not investigate thefts below £50, Mr Neville said, and “scurry around and steal lots of items worth £49.99”.
He called for an urgent recruitment drive among ex-servicemen – “the type of person who used to be the backbone of British policing”.
London has borne the brunt of an upsurge of violent crimes with knife offences up by nearly 20 per cent and serious youth violence by almost 10 per cent, according to latest figures.
Steve O’Connell, chairman of the London Assembly’s police and crime committee, plans to question a senior Scotland Yard officer about the worrying increase in violent crime today.
He said: “We continue to see a depressing rise in shocking crimes which leave Londoners vulnerable to the most harmful types of criminality which can leave people scared and a legacy of emotional and physical problems. We are determined to find out what is working and what is not in the battle against violence in London.
Protect
“It’s sadly true that many people in London now live in a culture of fear and feel at risk. They want to know that concrete steps are being taken to protect them. Londoners deserve to live in a safe city.”
Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick yesterday described the recent spate of knife crime in London as a “horrible phenomenon”.
She said there were signs of some stabilisation and reduction in stabbings of under-25s, but added that it would be “naive” to suggest reductions in officer numbers have had no impact.
Last month Home Secretary Sajid Javid pledged to prioritise police funding in next year’s spending review.
Meanwhile, graphic footage emerged of a moped gang wielding knives and hammers fleeing from a raid on a luxury jewellers in London’s Regent Street.
Passers-by jumped on a suspected member of the gang and wrestled him to the ground. Police confirmed a man was under arrest.
There are an estimated 60 motorbike robberies every day in the capital alone.
As police hunted the moped muggers who targeted comedian Michael McIntyre in Hampstead, north-west London, on Monday afternoon, two thieves on a scooter attacked a young woman less than five miles away in Edgware.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “After struggling with the victim, the pillion passenger punched her and stole her mobile phone and bag.
“During the incident she suffered a head injury and was taken to a central London hospital where she
remains in a critical condition.” Detective Sergeant Richard Lewsley said: “This was a horrific attack.
“She is currently in a critical condition and we need to catch these males before they strike again.”
In Birmingham, two balaclavaclad thugs wielding machetes were caught on video as they smashed a terrified motorist’s window, then repeatedly rammed his car in a stolen BMW.
The incident took place in a residential street in the city’s Handsworth area on Saturday. The BMW roared off from the scene and was later abandoned. The shocking images emerged after police arrested a 17-year-old boy for allegedly smashing a driver’s window with a so-called “zombie” knife during a terrifying road rage attack in Croydon, south London, on May 30.
Analysis from many of Britain’s major towns and cities has revealed a shocking rise in street violence and other public order offences. In Newport, Gwent Police was forced to bring in special orders to crack down on street crime after a spate of violent incidents. And a huge rise in violent crime, sex attacks and robberies in Greater Manchester prompted the force to prioritise cases according to harm caused.
Merseyside has seen violent crime rise by 17.5 per cent in the last year and in Glasgow on Friday, a man was photographed chasing another down a street waving a sword.
Police say anyone with information on any of the violent incidents to ring 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
WHAT on earth is happening on the streets of Britain? Barely a day goes by without hearing of yet another violent attack – or indeed more than one – somewhere in the country. Snatch and grab from mopeds, ram raids, stabbings, shootings – it is almost unbelievable. Increasingly, given the serious safety concerns, it is not just the more vulnerable groups who are becoming worried about setting foot outside the front door, it’s everyone else as well.
And where are the police in all this? We understand that they are often harassed and in need of further resources but given the amount of time and attention recently paid to alleged sex abusers who have not only been found to have no case to answer but are in many cases dead, is it not time the people paid to protect us decided to reset their priorities?
Police intelligence is needed to find the perpetrators of these terrible crimes and if they can’t do so in their current form then there have to be specialist squads to combat this menace. We also need to look at far stricter sentencing to keep these highly dangerous men (and they mainly are men) off the street. If the police can’t protect us then who will? Are we going to wait until a state of anarchy prevails before someone finally decides to act?