UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged on Tuesday "to have less crime, fewer victims and a safer society" through a new anti-crime plan which would see dangerous offenders be given tougher sentences, more thieves being electronically tagged after release, and each neighborhood having an assigned police officer known by name
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2021) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged on Tuesday "to have less crime, fewer victims and a safer society" through a new anti-crime plan which would see dangerous offenders be given tougher sentences, more thieves being electronically tagged after release, and each neighborhood having an assigned police officer known by name.
"When I first stood on the steps of Downing Street as Prime Minister, I promised to back the police and make people safer, because we cannot level up the country when crime hits the poorest hardest and draws the most vulnerable into violence," Johnson said in statement.
Under the Beating Crime Plan, there would also be permanently relaxed conditions on the use of stop and search powers by the police to take more knives off the streets, and offenders will be made more visible by work programs to clean up streets, alleys, estates and open spaces.
Alcohol tags - which detect alcohol in the sweat of the inebriated - will be trialed on ex-cons in Wales in an attempt to reduce alcohol-related crimes, while Violence Reduction Units will receive a new 17 million pound ($23.4 million) package to divert individuals away from violence.
"I am absolutely determined to cut crime and deliver a safer society for the public, and the Beating Crime Plan shows how the government is going to do just that," Home Secretary Priti Patel said, adding that another 20,000 police officers will be deployed on the streets.
Reacting to the announcement, Labour lawmaker and shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said that for the Conservatives to promise to start tackling crime after eleven years in power is an "insult."
"A PM promising to start taking crime seriously 11 years into a Tory Government is an insult - they've cut thousands of officers - Police have 'lost confidence' in Priti Patel - Anti-social behaviour rocketing - Rape convictions at a record low Soft on crime and its causes," the opposition lawmaker wrote on Twitter.
Campaign group Liberty also warned that giving more power to the police to stop and search people without reasonable suspicion "will only funnel young people into the criminal justice system."
