In the past few weeks, there have been violent robberies in both Stanley, where a man with a knife threatened a member of staff at a cheque centre, and Ouston, when a man with a handgun attempted to rob the local Post Office. With such frightening local incidents, the people of North Durham need no reminding that there has been a surge in violent crime in recent years.
SInce Labour came to power, violent crime has risen by 70 per cent in the UK. The latest British Crime Survey showed that there were over a million violent crimes committed on strangers in 2008/09. At the same time, burglary has gone up by 3 per cent in one year and personal theft has increased by 5 per cent. These are truly shocking statistics. And one of the really shocking things is that so little is being done about it. Indeed, a recent report showed that a number of violent crimes are being routinely ignored by the Police.
That is why we need to get more Police Officers on to the streets and give them real powers to deal with violent crime. If there is one consistent theme from the people of North DUrham when I speak to them on the doorstep, it is that they want more Police on the streets to tackle crime and make them feel safer.
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1 year ago
Yes I would agree that Police require more powers or more importantly stronger action by an ineffective bureaucratic justice system. Severe penalties would deter more offenders many of whom receive sfot sentences in the knowledge they will serve barely half that.
ReplyDeleteI would not agree that the Public are ignored. Police are frequently overwhelmed and particularly at peak periods, weekends etc and struggle to cope. I would suggest the average officer is determined to do a good job but undermined constantly by bureaucracy and under resourcing