Labour will get 13,000 bobbies back on the beat to tackle knife-wielding muggers and pickpockets, the party has promised.
Echoing Tony Blair‘s street crime action plan, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to get neighbourhood police and PCSOs away from their desks and back out in the community.
She hopes making officers visible and present in local areas – with guaranteed neighbourhood patrols – will deter crime and help catch criminals.
Labour will make its pledge to rebuild neighbourhood policing the ‘cornerstone’ of its plans to tackle crime and keep communities safe.
The announcement comes as the party published new analysis which shows snatch thefts of mobile phones have almost doubled from 30,000 to 58,000 over the last two years.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper (right) vowed to get neighbourhood police and PCSOs away from their desks and back out in the community
Labour will make its pledge to rebuild neighbourhood policing the ‘cornerstone’ of its plans to tackle crime and keep communities safe
Over the same period, total thefts against the person – such as pickpocketing – have jumped from 206,000 to 321,000.
Robberies have also increased by 13 per cent. Knife crime has surged 80 per cent compared to 2015, with more than 20,000 knife-point muggings every year.
But, at the same time, Labour said the number of arrests has halved since 2010.
Ms Cooper said last night: ‘On Rishi Sunak’s watch, 90 per cent of crimes are going unsolved and knife-wielding muggers, phone thieves and pickpockets can get away with menacing our town centres and neighbourhoods.
‘Ministers have done nothing to tackle the new organised crime wave that is hitting local shops and streets.
‘Enough is enough. Labour will rebuild safety on Britain’s streets and take back our town centres from thugs and thieves.’
Tory policing minister Chris Philp said the policy ‘isn’t worth the paper it’s written on’.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper arrive at Europol in the Netherlands in September 2023
Ms Cooper said last night: ‘On Rishi Sunak’s watch, 90 per cent of crimes are going unsolved and knife-wielding muggers, phone thieves and pickpockets can get away with menacing our town centres and neighbourhoods’
He added: ‘This is the same party that fought to keep violent murders and sexual offenders in Britain by stopping deportation flights and tried to take Tasers off our police.’
In 2002, then prime minister Sir Tony set up a cross-government action group after figures showed robbery levels had doubled in four years.
He declared a ‘national emergency’, taking personal control of a campaign to drive down street crime and dispatch more officers to crime hotspots.
