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Smith pledges extra £25m for police

17/07/2008

Home secretary Jacqui Smith has pledged an extra £25 million to police forces as part of the government's green paper on improving policing today.

The green paper is being published on the same day as official crime statistics show that overall crime is down by ten per cent but that the public's perception is that it is actually increasing.

Ms Smith told MPs that the government accepted the challenge of driving up public confidence in the police.

She called for a new policing pledge which clearly expresses what can be expected from police services and that ensures that the public voice is heard.

The home secretary added that the government will legislate to strengthen the democratic link with the public by introducing local directly elected crime and policing representatives.

The green paper also calls for local information with crime maps to be introduced everywhere by end of the year.

£25 million was pledged by Ms Smith over next two years in shape of more mobile devices being handed to frontline officers, representing an extra 30,000 devices by 2011.

"Today's green paper is the next stage of police reform. It represents a new deal and will mean greater freedom for the police matched by greater power for the public, Ms Smith said today.

In response, Conservative shadow home secretary, Dominic Grieve, pointed out recorded crime has nearly doubled in the last ten years.

He added: "This green paper offers some constructive ideas. I have to say virtually all of them originate from this side of the house."

Commenting on the green paper on Police Reform, Association of Chief Police Officers president Chief Constable Ken Jones said: "Policing today remains at its heart about serving the public. That is what those working in police forces across the country joined the service to do.

"Today’s green paper marks a potential watershed in its recognition that effective and responsive policing is best achieved through relocating policing back where it belongs, at the service of local people.

"The policing pledge set out today will help give people confidence that the police service will continue to get better at delivering for the public."

Prime minister Gordon Brown added: "We are determined to keep our streets safe - taking knives off the streets, dealing with wider issues of youth crime, the continuing challenges of drugs and organised crime, and of course the fight against terrorism.

"But we should not lose sight of the fact that over the last decade, overall crime is down by a third - thanks in large part to the hard work, dedication and courage of the police - with over 10,000 more officers in addition to new community support officers, and every area of the country since April now having its own neighbourhood police team.

"Today's proposals will cut red tape and top-down targets, freeing the police to focus on the most serious crime and on local issues. At the same time we are setting out for the first time clear minimum standards for what people can expect from their local police teams; and giving them more information on crime and what is being done to tackle it at local level, and a stronger voice in working with the police to decide local priorities."