But if such a programme extends beyond stemming the flow of cash (or at least attempting to do so), it is once again going to come back to law and enforcement. And that is thorny ground.
Getting a grip on the budget meant we could use the savings to pay for better IT and hundreds more police officers. We have cut anti-social behaviour by over 50 per cent across the county.
We need to increase the treatment options for those with substance misuse issues in order to stop the offending from happening.
The current minimal-confrontation approach too often seems to leave officers tacitly enforcing the codes of the ugliest and most violent sections of society.
First, Islamist extremism will use woke like a human shield. Then, once it has exhausted its purpose, it will cast aside, like that LGBT flag last Saturday.
Politicians urge zero tolerance – but there’s a gap between law and enforcement. If the Met can arrest 155 anti-lockdown protestors, why can’t it do the same to pro-Hamas ringleaders?
We have found a way to reduce the demand on police time from mental health episodes. It is now time to look at other demands on the police and see how they can be reduced – or how the costs can be recouped in full.
We are identifying organised crime groups and disrupting and arresting them. The team have helped return over £1 million worth of stolen machinery to victims of crime over the last year.
Armed officers and soldiers obviously cannot have carte blanche to shoot as they please; but there must be some allowance for the impossibility of always getting every split-second judgement right.
When the number of crimes in London has reached over one million a year, it is clear that the situation is out of control. The Mayor just offers gimmicks.
For there to have been only eight stabbings at this year’s Carnival is remarkably low, given that two million people attended.
I have always been a believer in the broken windows theory: for crime but also for standards more widely. Steve Watson – Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, and a proponent of back-to-basics policing – was right to insist on a smarter dress code.
If ministers want to foster a general atmosphere of equal treatment for lawful opinion, institutions such as local authorities and the police must set the example.
It is absolutely right that at the next general election we will be judged on our response to law and order. The Government and PCCs, working together, have provided more money, more officers and now, more time.
We need visible policing to deter criminals, neighbourhood policing to support local residents and businesses; putting resources where they will make the most difference.