“Police cuts are to blame for rise in crime”, says Unison

Unison the public service union

Serious crime is on the rise again after years of steady falls in offending, and Unison believes government cutbacks to policing in the North West are to blame.

Keen to encourage people to vote in the police and crime commissioner elections on 5 May, Unison is launching a campaign to provide the public with the facts about police cuts and the rise in serious crime.

Recent official figures show that in the North West sex offences rose by over a third (36 per cent), and violent crime by nearly a third (29 per cent) between 2014 and 2015.

Unison is warning that this dramatic rise in crime follows five years of government cuts to police forces in England and Wales. National Audit Office figures show that central funding has reduced by more than £2bn in real terms between 2010 and 2016.

According to Home Office figures, nearly 6,000 policing jobs were lost in the North West between 2010 and 2015, as a result of government cuts. These include a reduction of nearly four in ten (17 per cent) police community support officers (PCSOs), a 19 per cent cut to police staff jobs, and a 17 per cent reduction in the number of police officers.

Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis said: “Police staff have been cut year on year. The government keeps saying that this will have no impact on crime but it’s illogical to claim that reducing the number of PCSOs, police staff or police officers won’t make any difference to offending rates.

“We need to protect policing to keep local communities safe. Police and crime commissioners are hugely influential in shaping the future of policing. That’s why it’s so important that people turn out and vote this May.”

Greater Manchester Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said: “It is very much the case that we have lost over 2000 police officers in Greater Manchester and this stretch is what is causing extra pressure.

“The job of a police officer is to prevent and also to solve crime, to it makes sense that it is connected. There is more pressure now than before, what we really need is a definitive end to cuts.”