Social media is regularly awash with Brits understandably expressing their fury at violent criminals receiving risible sentences. People are now even hesitant to report crime because they feel, given the poor likelihood of justice, it is no longer worth the hassle.
When I came into office, Anti-Social Behaviour was the top concern of many residents and had not been prioritised.
Having seen the work my team and colleagues across the country do, I have no doubt that the public are best served by those who they can hold fully accountable.
In the last year 1,212 suspected gang members have been arrested, 286kg of drugs have been seized, and £1.2 million of cash has been taken off criminals. As a result, crime is now falling year on year in Lancashire.
There will be no congestion charge, no pay per mile, no London-style ULEZ expansion for as long as I am Mayor.
How James Arbuthnot and Nadhim Zahawi played important and different parts in the sub-postmasters’ campaign for justice.
It’s time the UK moved to a model where the biggest job in policing is the NCA head and not the commissioner of one force, however good he or she may be.
Last week’s Autumn Statement signalled a significant shift in power in the UK. For the West Midlands, it delivered not only announcements that will help supercharge our economy, but a fundamental change in how this region will be run.
The elements that came together to see a Conservative elected Mayor in 2008 – a national mood turning against Labour, a near-celebrity candidate in the as-yet-untarnished form of Boris Johnson, and a radical and increasingly unpopular incumbent – are not currently at hand.
What communities need from their police forces would be out in favour of top-down targets and threats of further action from the centre if chiefs don’t perform to the Labour mandate.
I do wonder if, with all this “woke” nonsense, there has been any consideration of an equality impact assessment on funding for rural areas.
I have set up an Ethics and Transparency Panel of stop and search across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. That gives me the confidence that they are carried out in line with intelligence-led policing.
Slowly but surely, British people from all faiths and backgrounds are being confronted by a minority who hate the liberal democratic west of which their country is an integral part and to which it has contributed so much.
Let the protesters gather in one place, have their event, and disperse. No march. I’m reluctant to believe that the Met can’t police a rally properly if it puts its mind to it.
Only last week, the current PCC announced the closure of ‘at least’ 30 police stations, further exacerbating citizen’s safety concerns. I cannot sit on my hands and watch this happen.