Keir Starmer has pledged 3,000 more neighbourhood police will be in place by next year as he promised a summer crime “blitz”.
The PM vowed to bolster forces in England and Wales with the extra officers and PCSOs by March, accusing the Tories of “decimating” town centre teams. He said it is the first step in the Government’s promise to deliver 13,000 officers by 2029 – a move he claims will win back town centres from thugs and drug dealers.
Mr Starmer said a “postcode lottery” means people in some parts of the country have been badly let down. Speaking in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, he said a £200million cash injection will deliver the extra officers.
Greater Mancester Police will get up to 176 neighbourhood officers while the Met Police will be boosted by up to 420, the plans show. West Midlands will gain up to 289 officers, while Merseyside will get an additional 97.
The PM said: “Under the last government, neighbourhood policing was decimated. It became a postcode lottery, where your address determined the level of service you get. The proportion of people who saw uniformed officers in their local areas halved in the last decade. And the result, crime soaring in our town centres and public confidence in the police service going down.
Scroll down to see how many neighbourhood officers and PCSOs your local force will get
“We’ve got to end this culture of crime that is destroying our communities. Today I can announce the first step – 3,000 new neighbour officers, being onboarded by the start of next year. All of them visible, on the beat and serving their communities – not stuck behind a desk or taken away to plug shortages elsewhere.”
Flanked by officers at Cambridgeshire Police’s headquarters, Mr Starmer said public faith in police had been dented by the lack of bobbies on the beat. “That must be soul destroying for you,” he stated.
It comes after more than one million cases of anti-social behaviour were reported in England and Wales last year. Labour says the 3,000 extra officers and PCSOs, who will be recruited by March next year, will increase law enforcement on the streets by 15%.
The Government says a summer crime blitz will see intense hotspot patrols targeting muggers and shoplifters.
Official data shows neighbourhood police and PCSO numbers were slashed by nearly 20,000 while the Tories were in power. In 2010 there were 16,918 PCSOs and 23,928 officers in neighbourhood roles.
By last year these numbers had dropped to 7,539 and 13,424 respectively.
• Up to 35 additional neighbourhood police officers for Derbyshire Constabulary.
• Up to 35 additional neighbourhood police officers and 21 new PCSOs for Leicestershire Police
• Up to 49 additional neighbourhood police officers and 3 new PCSOs for Northamptonshire Police
• Up to 30 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for Nottinghamshire Police
• Up to 30 additional neighbourhood police officers and 8 new PCSOs for Bedfordshire Police
• Up to 30 additional neighbourhood police officers and 7 new PCSOs for Cambridgeshire Constabulary
• Up to 74 additional neighbourhood police officers for Essex Police
• Up to 29 additional neighbourhood police officers and 11 new PCSOs for Hertfordshire Constabulary
• Up to 31 additional neighbourhood police officers for Norfolk Constabulary
• Up to 26 additional neighbourhood police officers for Suffolk Constabulary
• Up to 14 additional neighbourhood police officers City of London Police
• Up to 420 additional neighbourhood police officers and 50 new PCSOs for the Metropolitan Police
• Up to 20 additional neighbourhood police officers and 31 new PCSOs for Cleveland Police
• Up to 26 additional neighbourhood police officers for Durham Constabulary
• Up to 95 additional neighbourhood police officers and 27 new PCSOs for Northumbria Police
• Up to 48 additional neighbourhood police officers for Cheshire Constabulary
• Up to 26 additional neighbourhood police officers and 12 new PCSOs for Cumbria Constabulary
• Up to 176 additional neighbourhood police officers for Greater Manchester Police
• Up to 53 additional neighbourhood police officers and 30 new PCSOs for Lancashire Constabulary
• Up to 97 additional neighbourhood police officers for Merseyside Police
• Up to 65 additional neighbourhood police officers for Hampshire Constabulary
• Up to 65 additional neighbourhood police officers for Kent Police
• Up to 25 additional neighbourhood police officers for Surrey Police
• Up to 43 additional neighbourhood police officers for Sussex Police
• Up to 68 additional neighbourhood police officers for Thames Valley Police
• Up to 70 additional neighbourhood police officers for Avon & Somerset Police
• Up to 45 additional neighbourhood police officers and 55 new PCSOs for Devon & Cornwall Police
• Up to 40 additional neighbourhood police officers and 3 new PCSOs for Dorset Police
• Up to 23 additional neighbourhood police officers for Gloucestershire Police
• Up to 24 additional neighbourhood police officers for Wiltshire Police
• Up to 33 additional neighbourhood police officers for Dyfed-Powys Police
• Up to 40 additional neighbourhood police officers and 13 new PCSOs for Gwent Police
• Up to 22 additional neighbourhood police officers and 15 new PCSOs for North Wales Police
• Up to 70 additional neighbourhood police officers for South Wales Police
• Up to 53 additional neighbourhood police officers for Staffordshire Police
• Up to 8 additional neighbourhood police officers and 10 new PCSOs for Warwickshire Police
• Up to 31 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for West Mercia Police
• Up to 289 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for West Midlands Police
• Up to 38 additional neighbourhood police officers for Humberside Police
• Up to 32 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for North Yorkshire Police
• Up to 56 additional neighbourhood police officers and 12 new PCSOs for South Yorkshire Police
• Up to 100 additional neighbourhood police officers for West Yorkshire Police
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