The “thin blue line” is getting stretched ever thinner

In Government, Labour listened to local people and the Police and invested in neighbourhood policing, with local bobbies who know their communities. The result: crime down 43%.

But on David Cameron’s watch, we have lost 14,151 Police Officers as the thin blue line is stretched ever thinner. And although we have heard repeatedly from the Government that frontline Police Officers will be protected, 10,460 Bobbies have been cut from our streets since the Election.

These deep cuts are starting to take their toll on the police and their ability to tackle crime. As the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, has warned the thin blue line is in danger of reaching a tipping point. Police Forces, are, in his words, “hanging on”.

It’s time the Government recognised the damage being done by their reckless and rushed cuts. Theresa May and David Cameron’s complacency with our Police Service is threatening the very fabric of British Policing.

The latest crime figures showed disturbing signs that a generation of progress in some areas is being reversed. We now see worrying increases in muggings and shoplifting across the country, whilst violence against the person has increased in 13 police forces areas in England and Wales, with notable increases in some.

As Police forces are stretched to breaking point, they are taking up to 30% longer to respond to 999 calls and we have seen a reduction in overall crimes solved in 22 Forces, with nearly 14,000 more crimes unsolved this year than when this Government came to power.

Worryingly, the latest statistics show rape allegations handed to prosecutors in England and Wales have hit a five-year low, despite a 30% increase in the number of rapes reported to police.

And the number of child sexual abuse cases being referred to the Crown Prosecution Service by police forces across England and Wales has fallen by 28% from a peak of 13,018 in 2010-11 to 9,381 in 2012-13. This is the lowest level for more than five years and comes over a period when the number of such cases reported to the police has risen steadily to a record high of 18,915 in 2012-13.

Crime is also changing, adding yet further difficulties for the Police. Fraud has increased by 21%, but we know this is just the tip of the iceberg because much online crime goes unreported. Yet no serious action has been taken by this Government to tackle online fraud and scams.

In conclusion, the Government’s claim that frontline policing can be left unaffected by their 20% cuts has been exposed as a sham, as Labour repeatedly warned.

Neighbourhood policing proved popular and worked. But Government cuts to police and Local Authority budgets have led to the hollowing out of our police force leaving us increasingly with a 999 service.

The Government should urgently rethink the scale of police cuts and set out a proper plan for police reform instead – which is why Labour asked Lord Stevens to lead an Independent Commission, the most fundamental examination of British Policing in half a century, since the Royal Commission in 1962.

His report tomorrow will be a true landmark.

Jack Dromey is the Shadow Police Minister