By William Mills
Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister In Brighton
Jack Dromey MP Shadow Policing Minister
Peter Kyle MP, Hove & Portslade
Labour & Policing
On Monday 25th April Labour MPs, Jack Dromey and Peter Kyle addressed a UNISON meeting at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton.
UNISON is a public sector employees’ trade union representing PCSO’s and other civilian Police workers, although Police Officers themselves are not allowed to belong to a trade union.
Jack Dromey MP said;
Peter Kyle is one of the most outstanding of the new generation that have come into the House of Commons. He stands for the best of Labour and is a very effective champion for Brighton & Hove.
Under Labour local Policing had a devastating impact on reducing crime. Yet now over the last five years that progress has been reversed with crime on the rise.
The first duty of any Government is the safety and security of its citizens.
Peter (Kyle) was absolutely spot on when he said neighbourhood policing is the bedrock of policing, and absolutely key at the sharper end of policing those relationships are key to counter terrorism and we have had examples in the Brighton area of young men who have gone to Syria.
Now sadly there is nearly one arrest a day in this country for terrorism. A majority of arrests come from good neighbourhood policing whereby the community co-operates with identifying wrong doers in their ranks.
Other speakers at the meeting expressed dissatisfaction with both the Government and Sussex Police.
One PCSO said;
Sussex Police is a shell of a once mighty institution.
Another PCSO spoke of his demoralisation by being kept waiting for months to know whether his contract of employment would be renewed.
Another complained that Sussex Police had suffered the second worst Government cuts in the country after Greater Manchester Police. Jack Dromey MP added that;
Tory Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne was a waste of space in standing up for Sussex Police and appeared to have taken a monastic vow of silence…
Taking the ‘C’ out of PCSO
Others spoke of their opposition to volunteer PCSOs who will be able to use CS gas, and also the use of PCSOs to carry out regular Police Officer work such as investigating crime. One referred to it as taking the ‘C’ out of PCSO.
Labour & Policing
A number of speakers also complained that Sussex’s best firearms officers were being recruited by the Metropolitan Police in London.
