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The Guardian

Britain’s most senior police officer has contradicted Prime Minister Theresa May’s claim that reductions in police staffing did not cause a rise in violent crime, as a renewed political focus fell on knife attacks after two fatal stabbings of teenagers.
Cressida Dick said there was “some link” between violent crime on the streets and police numbers.
The Metropolitan police commissioner was speaking on Tuesday after the prime minister sparked a backlash over the government’s handling of rising knife crime.
May insisted there was “no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers” amid new evidence of a significant rise in teenagers using knives.

Dick said in an interview on LBC radio: “If you went back in history, you would see examples of when police officer numbers have gone down and crime has not necessarily risen at the same rate and in the same way.
“But I think that what we all agree on is that in the last few years police officer numbers have gone down a lot, there’s been a lot of other cuts in public services, there has been more demand for policing and therefore there must be something and I have consistently said that.”
May also came under fire from the body that represents rank-and-file officers, which described her as being “delusional”.
Mark Burns-Williamson, the chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said cuts to police numbers nationwide and cuts to youth services created “a toxic mix”.

There was also a call by Dick’s predecessor at Scotland Yard, Bernard Hogan-Howe, for 20,000 officers to be recruited to bring forces in England and Wales back to their 2010 strength as he demanded ministers “get a grip on the crisis”.
Several MPs, including a former Home Office minister, have called for the government to convene a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to respond to what Birmingham Yardley Labour MP Jess Phillips described as a “national emergency”.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid will chair a meeting of police chiefs on Wednesday that will bring together chief constables from areas most affected by knife crime.
Watch: UK police ram moped muggers, leaving them shocked and confused
The prime minister was also accused by the mayor of London of crying “crocodile tears” over rates of knife crime.
Sadiq Khan blamed soaring levels of knife crime in the capital on police cuts, as well as cuts to youth and mental health services and schools.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “We need much more resources from the government to invest in preventative services and policing.
“We have fewer police in London now in 2019 than at any time since 2003 – our population has grown by a million and a half since 2003.
May’s UK funding push slammed as ‘desperate bribe’ for Brexit votes
“Also when it comes to youth services, over the last eight years, dozens and dozens of youth centres have closed down, hundreds of youth workers have lost their jobs, thousands of young people who used to have youth centres to go to [now] haven’t.”
The political row comes as police investigate the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney in an East London park on Friday night in what her family said was a “totally random and unprovoked attack”.

On Saturday night, 17-year-old Yousef Ghaleb Makki was stabbed to death in Hale Barns, near Altrincham, Greater Manchester.
“We are doing our best to fill this hole by ourselves, though we can’t do it,” Khan said. “Of course there’s a link between the number of police officers and crime going up, the Home Office themselves accept this.
“I’m not excusing criminality but there are complex reasons why violent crime has gone up, there are deep-seated social problems.”
May promises Brexit could be delayed, as MPs back her new strategy
He listed lack of opportunity, poverty, social alienation and mental health issues as some of the factors that have been exacerbated by cuts to services.

Dick, in the same interview on Tuesday, also suggested middle-class recreational drug users have “blood on their hands” over the recent spate of violent deaths.
She was responding to a question from LBC’s Nick Ferrari, who asked: “Is it fair to say, commissioner, that some of these middle-class dinner parties that send out for cocaine on the weekend or whatever it might be, they’ve actually got blood on their hands of some of the people who are dying on the streets?”
Dick said: “I think anybody who is not seriously mentally ill, seriously addicted, who is seeking recreational drugs, particularly class A drugs, yes, I think that is a good way to put it, I do.”


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Crime

Rising violent crime and officer cuts are linked, says top UK cop despite claims made by ‘delusional’ PM Theresa May

Police forensics officers search the area near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London, Britain March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

A police officer walks near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London, Britain March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

epa06348641 Armed London police officers react to an incident near Oxford Circus tube station in Oxford Street, central London, Britain. 24 November 2017. The London Metropolitan Police (MPS) state that Police officers are continuing to search the area and to date police have not located any trace of any suspects, evidence of shots fired or casualties. Officers continue to work with colleagues from British Transport Police in the area of Oxford Circus. EPA-EFE/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

epa06890103 London Mayor Sadiq Khan (C) in the Royal Box on Centre Court prior to the men's singles final of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 15 July 2018. EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO COMMERCIAL SALES

A police forensics tent is seen behind a police cordon at the scene of a fatal shooting in north London on April 3, 2018. A 17 year-old girl died after being found with gunshot wounds in North London late on April 2, 2018, police said. London overtook New York's monthly murder tally for the first time in modern history for February 2018. Fifteen people were murdered in London during February, compared to 14 in New York, according to police figures. The British capital also suffered 22 fatal stabbings and shootings in March, higher than the 21 in New York. London's murder rate has grown by nearly 40 percent in three years, while police figures show that New York's has fallen by 87 percent since 1990, raising pressure on mayor Sadiq Khan and Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick. / AFP PHOTO / Ben STANSALL

A police car on Oxford Street in London. File photo: EPA

Theresa May’s UK regional funding slammed as ‘desperate bribe’ for Brexit votes

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip leave church, near High Wycombe, Britain, March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May leaves a hairdressers in Salisbury on March 4, 2019. Photo: EPA

London police are ramming moped muggers, shocking and confusing criminals who thought it ‘wasn’t allowed’

A suspect riding a moped is sent flying after being rammed by a police car, in a scene from a video released by London's Metropolitan Police. Photo: AP

Suspects riding a moped are rammed by a police car, in a scene from a video released by London's Metropolitan Police. One suspect is not wearing a helmet, something police say does not necessarily profibit the use of such tactics. Photo: AP

A suspect riding a moped is sent flying after being rammed by a police car, in a sceme from a video released by London's Metropolitan Police. Photo: AP

Police close in on a suspect riding a moped, in a scene from a video released by London's Metropolitan Police. Photo: AP

British police arrest man with knife at Buckingham Palace

A London Metropolitan police car outside Buckingham Palace. Police arrested a 44-year-old man as he tried to gain entry to the building. Photo: EPA

News

World

Europe

Cressida Dick also suggested middle-class recreational drug users have ‘blood on their hands’ over the recent spate of violent deaths


Cressida Dick also suggested middle-class recreational drug users have ‘blood on their hands’ over the recent spate of violent deaths.


Britain

Theresa May

Rising violent crime and officer cuts are linked, says top UK cop despite claims made by ‘delusional’ PM Theresa May

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Cressida Dick also suggested middle-class recreational drug users have ‘blood on their hands’ over the recent spate of violent deaths

Cressida Dick also suggested middle-class recreational drug users have ‘blood on their hands’ over the recent spate of violent deaths