Lib Dems' practical plan to cut crime vs Tory spin

Earlier this week the Conservative Party made the headlines for all the wrong reasons as they were roundly criticised for misrepresenting figures on violent crime for political gain.

I caught a bit of Chris Grayling, Shadow Home Secretary being interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme and I cringed. He said something about how if you talked to people on the streets they would confirm crime had risen - hardly very scientific! The point there is that what people feel about crime is based on people's perceptions not hard data: and I would agree that fear of crime is an issue.

Let's not forget the key point that Louise Casey reminded me of recently: 80% of crime goes unreported. So we need to be very careful about how we use and refer to crime data.

If you've been reading this blog and my ward blog you'll know that one of my big issues is the need to radically improve public confidence in the Police and the Council's ability to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

I have actively campaigned for a more effective approach in Reading which involves more regular communication and a better dialogue from the authorities with the public.

Political stunts like the one launched by the Conservatives are highly damaging to public confidence (which is already low when it comes to crime) and I was pleased to see the response by the Chairman of the independent UK Statistics Authority which pointed out the folly of a politician attacking official statistics.

The British Crime Survey has been around since 1981 and although it may not be perfect I would suggest it is more credible than a certain political party when it comes to crime figures!

In stark contrast to the crude politicking of the Conservatives on crime this week (which was nothing other than damaging both to public confidence and to the Conservative Party's standing), I was really pleased to see Nick Clegg and Lib Dem Shadow Home Affairs Spokesman Chris Huhne set out the practical ways in which a Lib Dem government would make communities feel safer.

It's simple: Lib Dems would scrap ID Cards and spend the money on 3,000 more Police on the beat.

The plans called 'Safer Streets - more and better Police' include proposals to publish detection rates as well as ward level crime data.

It chimes in very much with the way we have campaigned to get crime tackled more effectively here in Reading and I think these proposals would be a very positive step towards making people feel safer and to improve public confidence in Policing.

Research published by the Lib Dems at the same time as the policy revealed:

• Police numbers have fallen in 18 out of the 43 police forces (42%) in England and Wales since 2005. Two thirds of these police authorities are currently controlled by the Tories and one third by Labour
• The new officers proposed under Liberal Democrat plans could be expected to make an additional 27,500 arrests and solve more than 24,500 extra crimes each year in England and Wales alone

Contrast these pledges with the actions of Conservative Mayor of London, Boris Johnson this week - who campaigned on a crime ticket then announced he would be cutting 450 Police officers in the capital!

I look forward to finding out what local people in Reading think about these proposals when I talk to them on the doorstep over the coming weeks.

As a local councillor I have heard many complaints from residents over the years that there are not enough Police in their areas - right across Town.

I'm really pleased as a parliamentary candidate that I will be able to say hand on heart that I am standing for a Party ready and able to offer genuinely practical solutions to cutting crime.

Simply scaremongering as the Conservatives have done this week will do nothing other than damage what little confidence people have in the ability of the Police and councils to tackle crime.

Campaigning for a better response to local crime concerns

I met the government's "crime czar" Louise Casey earlier this week through my work as a Member of the LGA Safer Communities Board. This is a national committee of councillors who lead on crime and community safety issues in their area.

I was elected by other Lib Dem councillors on to this body on the back of the reputation I have built up in Reading campaigning for a better Police and Council response to crime issues.This has been one of my major campaign issues since I was elected in 2006 - driven mainly by what local residents have told me and their frustration with the system.

I have won many community safety improvements to make life better for residents in my ward, Redlands over the years. You can find out more about my local crime campaigns over the past four years over on my ward Blog.

I think it's fair to say Louise Casey is not particularly popular with a lot of people for her outspoken remarks about ASBOs and such like.

Although I don't necessarily agree with all Louise's views about how crime and anti-social behaviour should be tackled, the work she has done as part of her Crime and Communities Review has been very worthwhile at gaining a better understanding of how people feel about crime problems. And when I met her I found her plain-speaking a refreshing change from a lot of the officer-speak I am confronted as a local councillor.

Chatting to Louise on Thursday it was obvious that she has actually gone out and spoken to people and communities affected by crime on the ground - she has not formed her opinions by only talking to civil servants and MPs in Westminster.

Louise's approach to the problem of crime is largely based on the simple evidence that 80% of crime in Britain goes unreported. She has tried to get to the bottom of why this is. She is convinced - and the evidence she commissioned from MORI supports this - that people don't report crime because they have no confidence anything will be done about it. Her findings are backed up by what we have found talking to people on the doorstep here in Reading.

Official surveys and independent assessments published last year demonstrated that public confidence in Reading in relation to crime is very low compared to other areas and the Labour-run administration has been heavily-criticised by the Home Office for failing to sort this out.

Louise is currently doing her best to persuade government, the Police, and councils to do much better at listening to local people when it comes to crime - for which all power to her elbow as far as I'm concerned!

When she conducted her Review for government Louise said her team of researchers found it very difficult to find out from many council switchboards exactly how anti-social behaviour should be reported. I spend my life giving people phone numbers for the Police and Council because lots of people don't know how to report issues.

In Reading there are two telephone numbers: one to report asb to the Police, one to report it to the Council. This is crazy and hardly makes it easy for people to know who is responsible and who to call for help*

At the start of last year I took a group of residents to visit the Thames Valley Police call centre in Kidlington - they were frustrated with the lack of response to crime reports and I thought it was right that they should have their say.

When the Home Affairs Select Committee visited Reading in 2008 I raised the issue of crime reporting problems directly with MPs and senior Police officers. I have raised the issue of public confidence nationally too, speaking out on the issue at Lib Dem Conference in 2008:




Louise Casey's basic message to government and councils on the back of her Review is simple: the message the public want to hear is "we're taking action on the issues that matter to you".
Ironically, this is the basic message of many of our local Focus leaflets in Reading! Councils like Labour-run Reading have a long way to go. Research Louise Casey conducted as part of her review included shocking stats like: 6 in 10 people do not know how to report graffiti.
The research she has carried out with officials at the Home Office backs up what my Lib Dem colleagues and I have been saying in Reading for years: people are not reporting crime because they do not have confidence that the authorities will take action.

I discussed Neighbourhood Policing in Reading with Louise and the fact that many residents weren't aware of its existence because the Police had no budget to communicate with residents. From her reaction I could tell she wasn't very impressed!

I also explained that residents regularly tell me that they get fed up going to Neighbourhood Action Group meetings with information about anti-social behaviour in their area and they get criticised by the Police for giving them the wrong kind of community intelligence- not exactly encouraging!

The Lib Dems in Reading sucessfully campaigned to get Reading Borough Council to work with the Police to improve basic communication and help build up public confidence.

Louise talked a bit about the Policing Pledge which was launched by former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith last year. This sets out what people can expect from their local Police force. Research conducted by the Home Office found that many people don't know what they can expect -which really isn't very good!

My feeling is there is a very low recognition of this pledge in our area: a quick straw poll I conducted on Twitter of people following the #rdg hashtag revealed that most people have never heard of it. It's Lib Dem policy to invest in more Police on the beat (we'd find the money by scrapping Labour's costly ID cards scheme)

Do you live in West Reading What is your experience of Policing like? Have you ever reported anti-social behaviour to Reading Borough Council? How was it handled? I'd love to hear from you.

* Phone numbers if you want to report anti-social behaviour 0845 8 505 505 (Police) and 0845 605 2222 (Reading Borough Council).