Cuts to police funding are being blamed for a 12.8% rise in recorded crime in Caerphilly County Borough.
According to latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, the county borough saw 11,564 crimes recorded in the year ending in September 2017 – an increase on 10,250 crimes the previous year.
The biggest increase was in public order offences which shot up by almost 60% from 620 in 2016 to 987 in 2017. Sexual offences were also up by 31.7% as were domestic burglaries with a 30% rise.
The overall increase in recorded crime was also seen at a national UK level.
Gerald Jones, the Labour Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, laid the blame for the increase at the UK Government’s door and said that since 2010, Gwent Police had lost 283 officers.
He said: “The public are now being forced to pay the price for the reckless risk the Tories took with community safety when they slashed 21,000 Police officers across England and Wales.
“Since being elected, I have worked to build close relationships with both South Wales Police and Gwent Police forces, and have raised the issues of police cuts numerous times in Parliament.
“I have also been privileged to have spent shifts with officers in both Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, seeing first-hand the officers’ dedication and excellent work they are doing to keep our communities safe, despite ever-diminishing resources.
“Our police officers are working extremely hard in very difficult circumstances.
“The UK Government must realise that cuts have consequences and these latest figures reveal the Tories are failing in their duty to protect the public.”
Commenting on the latest figures, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert, said: “You cannot tackle crime without resources and the current settlement from the UK Government is insufficient to respond to current demand, let alone further increases. This is why Police and Crime Commissioners are increasingly having to turn to the local population to bridge that funding gap.
“The figures released show that the picture is varied across different types of crime. Some increases can be explained by changes and improvements in recording practices by Gwent Police over the last four years and also a greater willingness of victims to come forward, particularly in cases of sexual violence.
“However, the fact of the matter is that we have fewer resources than six or seven years ago but the demand on our service is increasing daily.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Government has proposed a comprehensive police funding settlement for 2018/19 to strengthen local, national and counter terrorism policing, which will see force funding increase by up to £270 million nationally.
“Gwent Police are proposing a precept increase of £10 next year, meaning their funding will increase by around £2.6 million.
“In 2017, Gwent Police held 42% of their annual funding in reserves (£52.1 million), which is the highest in England and Wales.
“The Government is clear police forces can improve productivity and increase efficiency.”
No surprise – time to stop blaming funding cuts and to stop the gimmicks and hype and most importantly – to get rid of Community Support Officers and use only fully trained Police Officers with full powers of arrest and stop /search.
Aren’t funding cuts the problem? More money for fully trained police officers seems the obvious answer. Public order offences are exactly the kind of relatively low level crime that shoots up when the bad elements in our society are given free licence to act as they want without fear of being stopped by officers in the street.
Yes funding cuts are the problem – but most organisations these days face funding cuts year on year and its a situation that unfortunately isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
The challenge is to use your funding where it will make the most impact – and that is by putting Police Officers on the frontline,visibly patrolling.
Spot on John, one problem is that the police and other public bodies are incapable of ‘doing more with less’ which private sector managers routinely do. It’s wonderful to be able to spend more, recruit people, and increase the training budget. This only happens in the private sector when times are good and the company is expanding.
Mostly managers are fighting a grim battle which involves utilizing a smaller budget to provide the customers with a better service than the year before. Politicians are in charge of police, health service, armed forces, etc and they are totally incapable of any response to a crisis other than plead more money.
Fortunately we are soon to leave the EU which in itself will make more money available. There are also many billions of pounds that could come from the foreign aid budget which currrently is lining the pockets of war lords all over the world.
Have a look at the National Statistics, as published on line by the Home Office. There is a huge amount of data there but some interesting snippets. On 31st March 2003 there were 198,375 total personnel in the forces of England and Wales. On 31st March 2017 this figure was 198,684.
These are split into categories and that for police constables, who are the ones we like to see on the street, numbered 104,380 in 2003. By 2017 this figure had decreased to 95,840.
Interesting statistics Richard – it is worrying that successive governments have cut the number of officers to a point where the Police can no longer carry out their duties in the way that the public expect.
However, I feel that as an organisation Gwent Police,and possibly other Forces ( or should that be Service ? as they no longer call themselves Force )are trying to be all things to all people and are involving themselves in too many gimmicks in an attempt to win over the public – instead they should be concentrating on tackling crime and disorder and the bulk of their budget should be concentrated on that.
I always call the police a force, that is what it should be, if I want a service I would call a council department. The Home Office figures are intersting and there are a lot of them, going into grat detail. I have only briefly skimmed through them as there is nothing I can do to alter the situation.
That situation is that ever greater demands are made on the police by the politicians, who accompany this with a reluctance to keep the numbers of constables up. The figures suggest that from 2003 the number of police constables did increase but has now fallen sharply. The response from the establishment has been to downgrade some crimes to the point at which they are not considered crimes at all.
This has not fooled normal people who experience at first hand the increasing level of anti social behaviour, drugs and theft. There has been a recent step back from this policy which explains, at least to me, why the statistics show a rapid growth in the crime figures.
Yes you are right on all of the above.
The recent statistics show a marked increase in particular in public order offences – which proves what we already know – that there is no visible patrol presence.
When I was younger you would always see Police Officers patrolling through Caerphilly town ( and in other towns in the borough ).
This meant they were always on hand to not only prevent public order offences,but also to apprehend offenders.
Sadly I believe that politicians and the police not only believe they have fooled the public, they have also fooled themselves into believing that the current model of policing actually works !
No surprise there then! The budget is being spread to thinly. We dont need CPOs on our streets. We dont need Council wardens on our streets, we need constables. Maybe if the budget was not spent on these useless officers and wardens we would havd more money for constables. You can blame budget cuts all you want but if we the chief constable isnt speading the money in the right place what hope do we have. Also is the commisioners wages coming out of the police budget? If so another waste of money that can be saved.
That’s another good point – the Crime Commissioner is supposed to hold the Police to account – yet his only response is to ask for more money !
Why isn’t he ensuring they spend their funding in the most efficient way enabling the best use of resources ?
But then as an ex- councillor and AM – asking for more money has always been the “norm”
It’s just been announced that Gwent Police have the Highest .
Usable Resource Reserves, in the UK, £1.6 Billion, Yes NO MISPRINT £1.6Billion.
so who’s speaking the Truth,
When we hear that cutbacks are the problem, It Seems if you keep Policing duty’s to a minimum, you can save millions of £ per yr.
Every rate payer pays into the Police Budget, And expect them to provide a service to us, Not refuse to enforce parking restrictions/Not attend minor crimes, And Blame the Government, for the Problem. Crime up in Gwent force area.
Mr Cuthbert , Get them to start spending |& Policing.