What does 2017 hold? One way of looking at it; more of the same. One trend for years now has been the squeeze on public policing and other public services.
Between 2010 and 2015 the police grant was cut by 20 per cent by the Government, as the new Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan pointed out in his first crime plan.
What the draft crime plan for London 2017-21 described as ‘severe and ongoing pressure on the Met Police budget and on the wider public sector in London’ has meant that the Met needed to make £600 million of savings over the period, which was achieved by cutting 4,500 PCSOs and back office staff, selling over 120 buildings and making cuts to other areas of policing.
The plan went on: “Despite the current Government claiming that future police funding has been protected, in reality the Met still faces real-terms reductions in its budget and will need to make hundreds of millions of pounds in further savings over the next four years.”
Likewise, criminal justice has had to deal with its own cuts to funding at a time when caseloads are becoming more challenging (such as sexual abuse and other complicated cases such as modern slavery, and cyber-crime) and citizen expectations have risen, as a result of digital technology. In London in particular, its population of 8.8m is growing rapidly, projected to increase by a fifth within 30 years. While reports of ‘acquisitive crimes’, such as burglary and car theft, have fallen, patterns of crime are changing. Vulnerability, in terms of who becomes a victim of crime, is becoming increasingly concentrated within certain places and among individuals, the document says – described as a ‘postcode lottery’ in public safety.
The Mayor of London started a formal 12 week consultation on the draft plan, starting on December 1, 2016 and ending on February 23. City Hall (pictured) will publish the final plan at the end of March 2017. To view the plan visit https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/mopac-consultations.
In Cumbria, the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner Peter McCall and Copeland’s Elected Mayor Mike Starkie recently launched the Copeland Hub in Whitehaven. That’s a multi-agency working space on the second floor of Whitehaven Police Station, as a place for partner agencies to work together.
Peter McCall said: “I’m delighted to be able to formally launch the Hub, with Copeland’s Mayor Mike Starkie. By pooling the local knowledge and expertise of our partners in Copeland, we have a great opportunity to make a real difference to community safety in the area.
“I am a firm believer that partnership working has to be at the core of any approach to tackling crime and antisocial behaviour, and so together we can make Cumbria an even safer place.”
Mike Starkie said: “The Copeland Hub represents the future of multi-agency working. At its heart is the desire to work together to achieve improved, more efficient and more beneficial outcomes for our community. We are already seeing the benefits of having a central location to co-locate and work together.
“This is an entirely new approach and we are delighted to have worked with the Police and Crime Commissioner to make this a first. I am sure the model will be replicated across the United Kingdom.
“I am particularly proud of our wonderful staff, and the local police officers who have dedicated themselves to getting this off the ground and the partner agencies who are using the Hub already, and I am really eager to watch the Copeland Hub go from strength to strength.”
Cumbria Police Sergeant Mitchell Franks said: “The Hub is set out to make a real, long-term positive impact upon quality of life issues throughout Copeland. This is not just an exciting opportunity for police and partner agencies, but also for the community.
“There were areas previously where naturally the work police and partner agencies do combine but also, there were areas where gaps were becoming apparent. By working together in the same building we are able to pool a high level of expertise among a variety of areas in order to improve the lives of our local people.
“This is a big step in the right direction and the work that the Hub does will be focused on tackling issues that matter to those that live in the area.”
Claire Proudlock, Home Group business relationship manager, said: “As one of the major providers of affordable housing in Whitehaven we work closely with the police and local authority on a number of issues. The Copeland Hub is a fantastic idea and will ensure that all partner groups are able to share expertise, intelligence and respond to issues in a more efficient manner.”
