The new government is allocating more money to the police and recruiting more police personnel. At the same time figures have emerged showing a current low level of clear up of many reported crimes. I would be interested in your views on what the police priorities should be, as they set about deploying the additional police that become available to them.
Some say there is currently insufficient attention to burglary, breaking and entering and car theft. Others counter that social media hate crime can lead to crimes of violence, and that on line fraud is now a more serious source of theft than break ins. Given that the police cannot be everywhere and have to prioritise their energy and time, what would be a good balance?
How much attention should be given to traffic offences? How can the police prevent domestic violence without getting dragged into many family disputes that will not end in violence? Can we get better at spending the big sums the state as a whole spends on troubled families? Then there could be less need for police intervention as social services and welfare have found ways to get people through their problems that could otherwise spark anti social behaviour and worse.
Nationally there is considerable concern about knife crime, and a clear wish to see convicted terrorists kept away from harming the public more. There is also a strong wish to police our borders better once fully out of the EU so we do not admit additional criminals in the first place.
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