Plans to make police enforce noise laws ‘are out of touch’
A POLICE leader has accused the government of being “out of touch” after plans were unveiled for officers to deal with noise nuisance complaints.
Plans by Number 10 to give officers more powers were announced last week as part of its levelling up agenda.
Tackling nuisance noise in the community is currently the remit of councils, but under the Tories’ Restoring Local Pride scheme, which is part of levelling up, it could soon become the responsibility of the police.
Adam Commons, chairman of Leicestershire Police Federation, which represents officers in the county, said the idea would undo years of work.
“This is another demonstration as to why the government is so out of touch with policing,” he said. “We are always seen as the service of last resort and have spent years trying to redress the balance and ensure local authorities and partner agencies are taking on work that should sit with them.
“Noise abatement is one of those issues.”
Mr Commons said he believed the plan would stretch already thin police resources even further.
“My colleagues are struggling with workloads now because there are not enough of them to deal with a growing population and an already overly bureaucratic system,” he said.
His comments came days after police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews announced plans not to go ahead with the recruitment of 100 officers for the force.
That move sparked a row between Mr Matthews and his predecessor, Lord (Willy) Bach, who had put the plan in place to add 100 officers by April this year and the same again in 2023.
Mr Matthews said paying for the officers from reserves was not value for money.
Mr Commons said: “We cannot start to reverse years of work and pass on more work to an overstretched front line.”
Launching the Levelling Up White Paper last Wednesday, the government said Leicestershire would receive a share of £50 million from the Safer Streets Fund, to be invested in the region to help tackle crime and antisocial behaviour.