LATEST CRIME FIGURES SHOW WHY GOVERNMENT MUST THINK AGAIN ON POLICE CUTS: AUSTIN

Dudley MP Ian Austin has called for the Government to rethink the scale of police cuts after new figures showed the biggest increase in personal crime in a decade.

The figures show that personal crime – which includes robbery, theft and violence against other people – is up a shocking 11%, overall crime is up 4% and in the West Midlands robbery is up by 10%.

The full figures can be viewed at:http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/crime-research/hosb0112/

The upturn in crime comes days after it revealed 2,700 police jobs are expected to be cut in the West Midlands – 450 more than expected.

Ian Austin MP said:

“The Police are working as hard as possible, but it’s pretty obvious that if you sack thousands of police officers, crime will increase.

“Time and again residents tell me that safer streets are their number one priority, but cuts of 20% to the police budget mean that in the West Midlands we are set to lose 2,764 police jobs. In Dudley we’ve already seen the consequences of these cuts with the proposed evening closure of New Street police station.

“Labour had a clear plan to find savings of around 12% over the course of this Parliament, which Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary said could be achieved without cutting front-line officers. Tory-led Government is implementing cuts of 20% which is too far, too fast and is putting public safety at risk.”