Over the years, I’ve consistently seen other political parties oppose measures to crack down on criminals, as well as put so-called political correctness and wokeism ahead of protecting everyone from crime. I believe policing should always be proportionate, but the safety of the public must always come first.

An example of where the Left don’t put law-abiding citizens first, is their opposition to police stop and search powers, that are used when the police have reasonable suspicion that someone may be carrying something illegal, such as a dangerous weapon.   

I recently learned a shocking statistic, that 100,000 weapons have been removed from British streets since 2019, with almost half of these having been seized through stop and search.  This shows that stop and search works and that police forces must not bow to pressure from the Left to curtail this important activity that helps reduce crime, including violence.

I therefore welcome that the Home Secretary has written to all 43 police forces in England and Wales, to back common-sense policing and urging officers to use the full powers at their disposal to arrest individuals who obstruct stop and search.  She also called on police to publish their body-worn footage more quickly.  This can help prevent innocent officers from ‘facing trial’ on social media for their actions, when the full facts are not available with only some of an incident being shown.

Getting weapons off our streets and apprehending those carrying them is vital to reduce violent crime.  It is a fact that under Labour Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), knife crime is over 44% higher than in areas under Conservative PCCs such as here in Sussex.  In England and Wales there were an average of 84 knife crime offences per 100,000 people in the year ending September 2022, with areas under Labour PCCs having an average of 91 and areas under Conservative PCCs having an average of 63.

As well as making better use of existing laws, the Conservatives are investing over £17 billion into police funding, giving record levels of resources to tackle crime and make our streets safer.

 

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

28th June 2023