Shocking figures show the impact of cuts to local policing

YET ANOTHER example in the budget statement last week of the catastrophic mismanagement of the Tory Government, when police chiefs are embarking on legal action against them.

The Government’s miscalculation of police pensions has added £42 million to the police budget on top of 19 per cent cuts already imposed.

With police levels down to the level of the 1970s, officers are struggling to protect the public in an environment with additional pressures.

Police chiefs warn that a further 10,000 officers could be lost at a time where police figures show a 14 per cent increase in crime, with knife crime having risen 21 per cent.

In Leek there are on average 165 crimes per month. Of these, 42 per cent are rated as antisocial behaviour with a further 27 per cent violent and/or sexual offences. Leek police team consists of six officers and three support officers. The pressure on them is obvious from the maths alone.

This shambles is in a climate where the £450 million to boost police funding in 2017 was paid for by increasing each household’s council tax bill.

Local community links with police, via neighbourhood involvement and contact is vital to develop collegiate working in order to ensure young people have role models, that people have respect for each other, and law and order is enforced and respected to ensure our wellbeing and safety. The list of cuts affecting the lives of our community goes on. Lyn Swindlehurst Leek