Thread by @LouHaigh

Can we be a bit more circumspect before accepting that the Tories are once again the Party of law and order? They have a LOT to fix.

A thread:

https://twitter.com/MoS_Politics/status/1160280699162779648

Firstly, Johnson's pledge to recruit 20,000 officers doesn't even cover those we've lost since 2010.

21,000 experienced officers have been cut in addition to the many thousands we've lost through record retirement levels thanks to the crippling morale levels in the service.

There's no mention of police staff at all - since 2010 we've lost thousands of PCSOs, call handlers, forensics officers, investigators and all the people who make the entire system work. Police officers alone don't cut it.

Speaking of which, it looks like they've abandoned the previous govt's lip service to the 'public health' approach - early intervention that acknowledges we need to tackle the root causes of crime as well as apprehend criminals.

That means investment in youth services, mental health and the raft of protection measures that actually prevent crime happening in the first place and protect young people.

A far cheaper approach than locking them up and much more effective.

And still not a whisper on where the money is coming from.

Since 2015 any additional funds have come from council tax - a method that means the wealthier areas can afford better public services because they can raise more locally.

It meant that in the last funding settlement Surrey could raise more than half of the amount it had lost since 2010 whereas forces like West Mids and West Yorks which had seen huge rises in violent crime could raise about 20%.

Now let's look at pledges on stop and search because the headlines are somewhat misleading.

These aren't extra powers to individual police officers, all hes promising is to allow inspectors rather than superintendents to authorise s60 of the Act.

This simply means that a lower rank can authorise a fixed time period where officers no longer require the reasonable grounds threshold to be met to search someone.

As one chief officer said to me:

'It makes no material difference to use of the power. We can access senior rank 24hrs a day on gold rota just as we can access inspectors'

So, no 'material difference' and actually, all it's doing is reversing Theresa May's reforms when she was Home Sec

How about these extra prison places? Seem a little redundant when prosecution levels are at 8%

You read that right - 92% of crimes are not prosecuted.

That's for a whole host of reasons, including cuts to policing and massive detective vacancies but also the cuts to the court system, legal aid, the disaster which is probation privatisation and May's reforms to police bail.

google.com/amp/s/www.tele…

It's hard to see how the system could currently cope with a huge rise in arrests which clearly these announcements and rhetoric are designed to lead to.

The entire criminal justice system is broken thanks to Tory austerity and the actions and voting record of Johnson and Patel.

It's going to take more than a couple of newspaper columns to fix it