It would appear that PM Terry Might is conducting the political equivalent of fiddling whilst Rome burns. There are of course many problems facing the country – there always are – but one particular bête noir of the moment is knife crime. We don’t have knives here at Americana-UK Towers because we can’t be trusted with them (except plastic ones) but news has filtered down to us that attacks featuring the use of knives are on the rise. It appears that the conversation round this has gone something like:
PM Terry Might: “There is no correlation between the rise in knife crime and cuts to police numbers”
Literally everybody else (including the police themselves): “Oh yes there is…”
The figures are: between March 2010 and March 2018 there are now twenty thousand fewer officers in England and Wales.
In terms of numbers of ‘frontline’ officers (i.e. response teams, neighbourhood policing and front desk roles) there are 16% fewer people in these roles in England and Wales.
Funding of the police comes from central government and council tax contributions. According the National Audit Office government funding has fallen by 30% since 2010 in England and Wales.
(Source: Full Fact)
Meanwhile:
Cuts to youth services have been some £387 million since 2010.
Youth work jobs lost have been some 3,652 since 2010.
Youth centres closed are 603 since 2010.
Places for young people have been cut by 138,898 since 2010.
(Source: Unison)
Meanwhile:
Of 44 police forces 42 have recorded a rise in knife crime since 2011.
There were 42,957 offences involving knives in the 12 months ending in September 2018, a 31% increase on the previous year and the highest number since 2011.
(Source: BBC via Home Office)
So…yeah…there you go. Make your own mind up.
