A leaked Home Office document has confirmed suspicions that a fall in police numbers is likely to have contributed to a rise in serious violent crime.
Former Met Commissioner Ian Blair echoed sentiments of Jeremy Corbyn last week saying “if you take 20 per cent of the Met’s funding away something gives”.
And now an official document leaked from Amber Rudd’s office has hammered the last nail into the coffin, confirming that a lack of resources and fewer charges may have “encouraged” offenders to commit crimes.
The document notes that forces have faced greater demand since 2012 due to an increase in recorded sex offences while during the same time officer numbers have fallen.
It says: “So resources dedicated to serious violence have come under pressure and charge rates have dropped. This may have encouraged offenders.”
The analysis does go on to say that forces with the biggest falls in officer numbers are not seeing the biggest rises in serious violence.
But it concludes that while pressure on resources is not the “main driver” that “triggered the shift in serious violence”, it has “likely contributed”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn today pledged an additional 10,000 officers to tackle surging gun and knife crime.
As he launches his party’s local election campaign, he will say: “Over the last eight years the Conservative government has decimated local services, the core services that are an essential part of holding our communities together.
“You simply cannot maintain community cohesion when you slash funding to the police service and cut the number of officers on our streets by 21,000.”
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https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/opinion/analysis-if-you-take-20-per-cent-of-the-mets-funding-away-something-gives/08/04/
