Priorities
Domestic abuse – tackling violence against women and girls; to retain refuges for a safe haven for victims, to fund perpetrator services to get the support to prevent further abuse, to improve victim services and support, to build trust from the victims in the police to come forward and report – which is a challenge as at present the conviction rate for reported rape is a pitiful and unacceptable 2%; and to push for national vetting of all police officers.
This was the area of service that I campaigned on more than any other. Defending women’s refuges from closure and being the conduit for making Lancashire a White Ribbon County – standing up against men’s violence against women’s and girls. But much more is needed.
Visibility – getting our police officers back onto the streets and rebuilding our neighbourhood policing. The Tory PCC has slashed the number of PCSOs and he has put many police officers behind desks rather than on the streets. Despite what he says the service has been significantly degraded. I would never have allowed this to happen and I am committed to rebuilding the publics trust and confidence in the police.
The simple fact is, we need more Bobbies on the beat rather than behind desks. We need a fair share of funding from government, which we have never had under the Conservatives. We need to push officers to tackle all instances of antisocial behaviour and shoplifting at the outset rather than allowing it to go on with impunity as it is now. For example, according to the Coop, in the past year, Lancashire Police only responded to 20% of ongoing incidents of reported shoplifting and in only 2% of cases did it lead to a conviction. These are the known cases, not including the ones that go undetected completely. What kind of message is this sending to criminals? Simply not acceptable!
Prevention – improve early intervention and to work with a range of partners to redirect young people away from offending behaviour. There is a strong correlation between deprivation and crime, mental health issues, domestic abuse, antisocial behaviour and nearly all the ills of society. If, through a multi-agency approach, we can work with families and young people at an earlier stage to give them some support, hope and opportunity we could turn people’s lives around, prevent young people becoming involved in the criminal justice system, prevent many future crimes being committed and it would be a far better use of resources.
Value for money – to respect public funding of policing and to ensure that every penny spent is used to deliver the best possible service. To strive once again to regain Lancashire’s rating for being Outstanding for efficiency and use of resources. This also means ensuring that police officers get back out onto the streets doing police work rather than sat behind desks doing work that could be done better and cheaper by police staff.
Part of the job of PCC should also be about getting a fair deal from government. Lancashire has been treated appallingly by the Conservatives over the past 13 years. Rishi Sunak boasts about taking funding away from more deprived areas in the north, such as Lancashire, and distributing to areas in the South, such as Royal Tunbridge Wells. We still have fewer police officers than when the Tories came to power in 2010. We have seen a drastic cut in PCSOs and police staff by the Tory PCC, and we have seen the burden for trying to close the gap being shifted onto the hard pressed council tax payers of Lancashire. This has got to stop!
I am committed to fighting the Tory government for a better deal for Lancashire but, better still, working with an incoming Labour government to bring in some sensible policies and fair funding once again.
Customer experience – improve how residents are dealt with by the police. My aim is to achieve the highest standards in both service delivery and police officer behaviour. For Lancashire to be once again a byword for excellence in policing rather than a fallen or failing police force as some people see it now.
To achieve this I aim to create a golden thread of service delivery, from prevention i.e. visibility, becoming embedded in communities, stopping crime and ASB occurring, working with partners to bring hope and opportunity to deprived communities.
Then ensuring the police are responsive, answering calls and emails timely and effectively, visiting scenes of crime quicker and also providing feedback so the victims actually know what is going on.
Technology has improved significantly and should be used to build and maintain the publics relationship with the police. I was part of the evolution of its use in Lancashire and see massive potential for how we can improve in the future.
Let’s Get Lancashire’s Policing Back!