Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group on Brighton and Hove City Council, has welcomed a pledge to protect neighbourhood policing. If elected in May, Labour will introduce a new ‘Local Policing Commitment’, which makes sure police forces guarantee neighbourhood policing in every area.
Cllr Morgan said;
I spent four years working for Sussex Police, and almost a decade chairing the crime prevention forum in my ward, so I know how important neighbourhood policing is. Across Brighton and Hove our PCSOs are valued by local communities as are our local PCs and Sergeants for their local knowledge and commitment. It’s vital that we vote to protect our local police from Tory cuts.”
Labour will set out £800 million worth of efficiency savings a year to enable Chief Constables to safeguard over 10,000 police officers from cuts scheduled by the Conservative Government. The savings – all of which have been ruled out by the Tories – include scrapping expensive police and crime commissioners and halving the cost of police governance; ending the police subsidy of gun licenses; mandating joint procurement and sharing support services.
The Tories plan to cut more police, over a thousand in Sussex in the next five years, hitting neighbourhood policing and leading to dire warnings from the independent policing inspectorate and from Chief Constables about the future of the police. This risks public safety at a time when the Police are already struggling to cope with an increase in violent crimes such as child sexual exploitation and rape.
