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Every community in Birkenhead will each have a new, named police officer under plans announced today by the Conservatives. The plans build on the recruitment of 20,000 additional officers, as promised in 2019.
From Bebington to Bidston, from Woodside to Woodhey, new officers in each of the seven local wards will have the full power of arrest and be the named officer for their local area, helping to build relations, contact and confidence with the community. The move will be paid for by removing the student discount to the Immigration Health Surcharge and by increasing all visa fees by 25 per cent. Across the country, 8,000 additional officers will be recruited.
New Conservative Candidate for Birkenhead, Sarah Payne, said:
"While crime is down overall, the fear of crime in some communities and especially the young and the elderly, remains one of their main worries. The extra 20,000 officers since 2019 have made a difference but now we must do more to increase visible, local policing.
"Not everyone who has a fear of crime or a local issue can be reassured by going online. That's why our plan for a named officer, who gets to know and work in a specific community, will be such a massive help."
Our new officers will be focused on their local neighbourhoods which, in addition to our hotspot policing programme, will help to make communities safer. Labour’s pledge of more police officers is unfunded and will only recruit 3,000 extra officers with the full power of arrest.
The Conservatives will deliver the extra resources our police need by:
- Recruiting 8,000 new fully warranted police officers as part of a new neighbourhood policing uplift programme. We will build on the success of our Police Uplift Programme that has delivered 20,000 more police since 2019 by recruiting an additional 8,000 police officers with the full power of arrest – that means an additional police officer for every ward in England and Wales (Sky News, 10 June 2024, link; Home Office, National Statistics, 24 January 2024, link).
- Ensuring that these new officers are focused on their local neighbourhoods. These officers will work as part of existing neighbourhood teams, which will ensure every neighbourhood will have a genuine and more continuous police officer coverage. We will also require forces not to offset these additional officers by diverting police officers, already dedicated to neighbourhood duties, to other purposes (Sky News, 10 June 2024, link).
- Rolling out Hotspot Policing to all police forces to cut anti-social behaviour. We will roll out our successful hotspot policing programme across the whole of England and Wales over the next Parliament. This will ensure that an additional 3 to 4.5 million hours of patrolling can take place in hundreds of hotspots, proving further protection against anti-social behaviour and serious violence. Anti-social behaviour is also down by nearly 50 percent in some hotspot areas (Home Office, Press Release, 15 February 2024, link).