I'll put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat
Labour has made cracking down on antisocial behaviour one of its first steps for change.
Too often when I talk to people across the country about crime and antisocial behaviour, they say the same thing: “no one comes and nothing is done”.
That is the damage that 14 years of Tory government has done, and it is our communities paying the price.
Shop workers have told me they feel worried and afraid at work because of soaring shoplifting and appalling assaults.
One store manager told me he had reported shoplifting fifty times, gathering all the CCTV evidence, but only three of those cases were pursued by the police.
Parents have told me how worried they are about off-road bikes causing havoc in their communities but the police don’t have the powers to act.
And I’ve spoken to elderly residents who won’t go into their town centres any more because they don’t feel safe, and all the local police have been cut.
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Our high streets should be the beating heart of our communities, but after 14 years of Tory government, too often they have been hollowed out, as small businesses have been hit and 10,000 while antisocial behaviour has got worse.
Across the country, record numbers of people say antisocial behaviour is a big problem in their areas and street crime is going up. Yet shockingly 10,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs have been cut from our streets.
We can’t carry on like this. That’s why Labour has made cracking down on antisocial behaviour one of its first steps for change, with a pledge to put neighbourhood police back on the beat in every corner of the country.
Because in the Labour Party, we know that safety and security are the bedrock on which all other opportunities are built, and that communities can’t be strong if they don’t feel safe.
For too long the Conservatives have dismissed antisocial behaviour as “low-level offending” and repeatedly refused to act, but we know that these crimes corrode the social and economic fabric of our communities and make people feel unsafe on their streets.
So Labour will act on day one to take back our streets.
As our manifesto will set out today, we’ll start by putting 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat, with guaranteed local patrols.
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We’ll give the police new powers to clamp down on antisocial behaviour, banning persistent offenders from town centres with new Respect Orders, creating zero-tolerance zones to stop antisocial street drinking and local drug dealing, and making sure that dangerous and deafening off-road bikes can be seized and destroyed.
After more than a decade of damaging decline under the Conservatives, 90% of crimes are going unsolved, arrests have halved, more criminals are getting off and more victims are being let down.
That is the Tories' shocking legacy on law and order and the country simply can’t afford more five more years of this. It’s time for change
Only Labour will be a party of law and order putting the safety and security of our communities at its heart.
