Stephen Metcalfe, Member of Parliament for South Basildon and East Thurrock recent met with Chief Superintendent Glenn Caton at Grays Police Station to discuss crime and disorder issues across Basildon and Thurrock.
During a wide-ranging discussion, Stephen asked Chief Superintendent Caton about the main challenges facing the police and how future reductions in Government spending would affect the level of service residents could expect to receive.
Stephen said, “I was pleased to hear that although no-one likes to see a reduction in the amount they receive from Government, the police across South Essex are determined that they will maintain their core activities of crime detection and reduction and providing a safe environment for us all to live in”.
This assurance comes on the back of a recent parliamentary briefing by the Chief Constable, Jim Barker-McCardle, who said that although the spending review presented challenges, it also presented some opportunities to look at the way policing was provided across Essex.
Stephen continued, “I have the utmost confidence in our local police and know that they will do all they can to ensure that we continue to see high rates of crime detection and prevention. As a Government, we will also try to do our bit by reducing paperwork and bureaucracy and freeing them from the mountain of red tape they get tied up in”.
“We will encourage more collaborative working and better use of IT and will support our hard working officers wherever we can”.
“On behalf of the whole community, I want to thank our police and assure them that we are not deaf to their concerns”.
It will be good if the Essex Police could maintain their numbers during the scathing cuts that are necessary due to the Labour Governments mismangement of the countrys finances but I fear that eventually we will be hit with cuts.
Police should not have so much paperwork and red tape and should be on the beat for the majority of their shift but once again the last government put in place so much bureaucracy that they are in the station for the majority of their shifts.
We require more trained officers on the streets to combat the rise of crime in the area, it is all well and good having PCSO’s but these have very little power so are next to useless.