Across the country, we are giving our police the powers and resources they need to cut crime and make us feel safer in the community.
At the last election, we made a pledge to tackle crime by recruiting 20,000 more police officers. I am pleased to hear that today, 6,620 new officers have joined forces across England and Wales, beating our target of recruiting 6,000 extra officers by March 2021.
The number of new officers deployed to the Daventry and South Northants area is doubling over the next 12 months, and this will provide a significant increase in visibility and access to officers for the local community. Every one of these officers will make an enormous difference in helping to cut crime and keep people safe.
Once COVID restrictions allow, a number of community engagement events will be created with the local partners across the constituency, to start to bring the community together and build on the community spirit that has developed through the challenging 12 months that everyone has endured.
Other measures taken include:
- Delivering an additional £20 million to crack down on neighbourhood crimes that blight our communities.
- Boosting police funding by £636 million this year, ensuring our frontline officers have everything they need to keep us safe.
- Enshrining a new police covenant into law, enhancing support and protection for our frontline police officers.
- Dismantling county lines gangs thorough a £40 million funding boost, keeping our towns and children safe from drug gangs.
- Investing £148 million of new investment to cut crime and protect communities from the course of illegal drugs.
- Toughening up sentences for assaulting emergency workers, recognising the debt of gratitude the public feels towards them.
The police have been a vital force in the Government’s efforts to fight coronavirus. We are introducing extra measures to support our police during these times by:
- Delivering an extra £30 million to help the police enforce coronavirus restrictions by increasing patrols around town centres, helping to protect the NHS and save lives.
- Increasing police powers to find people who host and attend illegal gatherings, giving our officers the power to enforce rules, such as an £800 fine for house parties of over 15 people.
- Launching an income loss recovery scheme for police forces, helping them to recover a proportion of income they have been losing due to the pandemic.