Ed. Did I say anything about police numbers? The main issue I've heard police mention in the last year or two is that they've had to cope with escalating cyber crime and fraud crimes while still coping with "traditional" crimes. Of course, that might just be senior police officers angling for even more money?
However, coping with the new IT orientated crimes needs money spent on training and possibly recruiting experts that might have high salary expectations. (Several years ago the City of London police were trying to recruit IT/Infosec people from city companies as special constables to assis with cyber crime and fraud. I'm not sure how successful that was; I think a number were out off by the need to sign the Official Secrets act for what was a voluntary position.)
I think Khan would probably argue his police station closures were driven by central government expenditure cuts, but that's possible the police being used as a political football. Yes, police patrolling on foot is slow but that's how they talk to people, gather information, and build trust and cooperation. I'm not saying they don't need fast response units to deal with accidents and criminal incidents; but aren't the SNTs supposed to meet and engage with the local population?
Then, of course, there's the question of addressing the causes of crime - is it driven by organised crime, or is it poverty, austerity, unemployment, poor education, social breakdown, ...? (Excluding most cyber crime and fraud which if often instigated outside of the UK's jurisdiction.)
Yes, we don't know how well Labour or the Lib Dems would have done but it is the Tories who've been in charge of the overall purse strings and policies for over a decade (ok, with a bit of Lib Dem "help" at the beginning) and things certainly don't seen to have got better.
Michael Ixer ● 770d