Britain is in the grip of a surge in violent crime. No neighbourhood or individual is immune from its cruel impact — not even an MP, as I have recently found to my own cost.
One evening last summer, I was assaulted by a number of men while travelling through the Lake District town of Ambleside near my Barrow constituency in Cumbria.
The incident was unnerving, though I am prevented, on legal grounds, from writing more about it due to the impending trial of one of the alleged assailants.
Even though I am a member of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, the experience brought home to me the reality of the soaring crime wave taking hold of our society.
Scourge
Only last week, the latest figures on crimes recorded by the police showed violent offences were up by 19 per cent in the year to September 2018. Robberies rose by 22 per cent and the number of homicides increased from 649 to 739 over the same period.
Barrow MP John Woodcock, pictured, was assaulted last year in his Barrow constituency. Private security workers in the area are now being used to detain violent criminals due to a shortage in officer numbers
Robberies rose by 22 per cent and the number of homicides increased from 649 to 739 over the same period (stock image)
That great democrat George Orwell wrote in 1941 that ‘the gentleness of English civilisation is perhaps its most marked characteristic’.
Almost 80 years on, his words couldn’t sound less true.
In the face of this scourge, the police are struggling to cope. And in my own North-Western region, the local constabularies are grossly over-stretched. As a result, drastic action is now being taken to make up for the force’s lack of capacity.
In one alarming measure, reported by this paper yesterday, private security guards at bars and clubs in parts of the Lake District are using handcuffs to detain violent assailants while waiting for the police to arrive.
The shocking initiative made clear just how little confidence many have that the police will be there when needed.
South Lakeland — where the measure has been taken — is roughly the size of Greater London. Yet cuts to forces in sparse rural areas like this mean that generally only a handful of officers are on duty at any one time.
Even if the police officers on duty wanted to attend every call, it would be impossible.
To be honest, when I was assaulted last summer, I might have welcomed the assistance of security guards licensed to detain my assailants.
But I am also profoundly concerned by this development, which could threaten the entire tradition of policing in this country.
For almost 200 years, ever since home secretary Sir Robert Peel founded the Metropolitan Police, our constabularies have been the widely respected guardians of law enforcement.
Their success — long admired throughout the world — is based on their determination to avoid arbitrary punishment, personal bias or political oppression.
Abuse
But their ability to maintain public order in an impartial and rigorous manner will be lost if the Lake District experiment is repeated too widely.
In such circumstances, the police’s unique role as the upholders of law will become diluted by the welter of private security firms and contractors, which, under the guise of public protection, will be able to take the law into their own hands.
It is not the route that a civilised society should follow: it is a recipe for vigilantism and abuse. Given the occasional tendency of bouncers to exhibit aggressive behaviour, many will rightly wonder whether providing security guards with handcuffs will end badly.
And what will be the next group applying to carry out their own police work? Hospitals with drunk tanks staffed by nurses wielding tasers? Cyclists and pedestrians given the right to impound the vehicles they consider dangerous?
Tragically, such fragmentation could happen if the crisis in policing is allowed to sink further. And with police funding being relentlessly cut, this looks increasingly likely.
Due to cuts, Government funding has fallen by 30 per cent in real terms since 2010/11. As a result, police numbers across the country have been reduced by 22,000 and neighbourhood policing has been eroded by a fifth.
It is no wonder, in this context of cutbacks, that instances of court action are down by 26 per cent over the past three years. The number of arrests have also fallen — from 17 arrests per 1,000 of the population in 2014/15 to 14 per 1,000 in 2016/17.
But the bigger issue is that officers are being diverted from doing genuine police work. Today, police are having to act as mental health support workers for vulnerable people who have had their local services scrapped. And with paramedics themselves hopelessly overworked, they are also having to drop people at A&E units.
No wonder private companies have spotted the gap in the market and security guards are being drafted in as reinforcements.
On top of all that, there is an explosion across the country in ‘county lines’ activity, with urban gangs using children as drug mules in rural areas. The latest estimate by the National Crime Agency released this week shows a trebling in the number of cross-county operations.
Combating these requires time and resources — neither of which police in Cumbria have in abundance.
Before order breaks down and people lose confidence in the ability of the authorities to keep them safe, far more needs to be invested into policing.
That means more funding — not just for the fight against organised crime but also for community policing.
On top of all that, there is an explosion across the country in ‘county lines’ activity, with urban gangs using children as drug mules in rural areas (stock image)
Decline
When the police are understaffed and resources are limited, more also needs to be done to stop crime taking place in the first place.
That’s why it’s just as important that other parts of public life — such as health, education, youth work and social services — are also given sufficient support.
I am happy to say that, in contrast to the dispiriting handcuffs tale, the Cumbria constabulary is trying to focus on grass roots measures to help restore public confidence.
In Egerton Court, an estate in my constituency which recently recorded 1,364 crimes in the space of five years, a community hub has opened this week where police and health support workers can help decent residents take back control of their area.
But a traditional hands-on approach to policing and community support needs to be sustained in the longer term.
Bluntly, the Government must reverse the years of financial decline in the public sector. We have to invest in the basic local services that keep our kids off the streets and our communities together.
If we fail to do that, we may see far more worrying examples of private security initiatives than security guards brandishing handcuffs.
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Main photo article Britain is in the grip of a surge in violent crime. No neighbourhood or individual is immune from its cruel impact — not even an MP, as I have recently found to my own cost.
One evening last summer, I was assaulted by a number of men while travelling through the Lake District town of Ambleside n...
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Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
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