Long hard look at the Conservative's policy on crime
David Lepper, Brighton Pavilion Labour and Co-operative MP, is joining Labour's Home Secretary to urge people to take a long hard look at the Conservatives' policies on crime.
David said: "When I met Police Divisional Commander Graham Bartlett recently we discussed figures from Sussex Police show that at the end of December 2009 overall crime in Brighton and Hove was at its lowest level for 10 years.'
Compared to December 2008 -
Burglary is down 0.4%
Criminal Damage down 7.1%
Drug Offences down 13%
Theft and handling down 4.9%
Violent Crime down 9.8%
This is against a national background which shows overall crime down 36% since 1997 and violent crime down 41% since 1997.
David Lepper said:
"Most parts of the city now have their own Local Action Teams bringing together the police, councillors, residents and other agencies to work local solutions for anti-social behaviour and other local problems.
"Nationally police and PCSO numbers are at an historic high, and we have introduced neighbourhood policing teams covering every street and community in the country.
"Labour will take the tough decisions in other areas to meet our commitment to halve the deficit over the next four years, but we'll protect the key public services people depend on – and this includes front-line policing.
'The Tories' position on crime, the deep cuts they plan to key public services, and their weakness on CCTV and DNA would put all this at risk. Behind their warm words they would threaten the safety of our streets by refusing to match our commitment to front -line policing which has seen crime fall by over a third."
'When it comes to crime, David Cameron is more concerned with headlines than policies. That's why he talks Britain down by deliberately misleading the public about crime figures even though his party has been censured by the Statistics Authority for doing this.
'The reality is the Conservatives have voted against Labour's measures to fight crime including opposing changes to the retention of DNA evidence – making it harder for the police to catch criminals. And they have campaigned against the use of CCTV which reduces the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Alan Johnson, Home Secretary, said:
'Labour wants to see a future fair for all and that's why I am setting out the tough action we are taking to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
'While crime has been cut by over a third since 1997 and Labour is protecting front -line policing the Conservatives have refused to say if they would protect the police budget.
'Labour is clear about what we will do to keep people safe –the Tories' refusal to reveal their own plans should not go unchallenged. Nor should their election candidates be able to continually mislead the public with dodgy crime statistics.'
