— Fighting the blight of drugs and violence —
By investing and leading in the county’s response to combat gang- and knife-related crime.
Part four of Darryl Preston’s six-point plan to continue #WeCutCrime in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Fighting the blight of drugs and violence
Serious organised crime is the biggest security threat to our country – conservatively estimated to cost the UK economy £47 billion a year.*
The criminals responsible for serious organised crime cause devastating harm to individuals, businesses and communities – here in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and across the UK.
These criminals lead lavish life styles at the expense of misery to others, a misery which all too often manifests in our local communities.
Much of the serious violence, knife and gun crime is as a result of illegal drugs supply with criminals exploiting young vulnerable boys and girls to run ‘county lines’ networks.
Drug users will often commit other crimes to feed their habits, including burglary, robbery, shoplifting, vehicle and bike theft – crimes we can all fall victim to and make us feel unsafe in our communities.
I know what I'm talking about
For the past three years, I have led the County’s response to organised crime, drugs and serious violence, chairing the countywide High Harms Board.
I am pleased to report that knife crime is down by 26%, bucking national trends, along with 54% fewer hospital admissions for knife injuries.*
And prior to becoming your Police and Crime Commissioner, I sat on the national county lines working group, attended the national taskforce on serious violence chaired by the Home Secretary, worked closely with the National Crime Agency and was senior policy lead at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners for Serious Organised Crime.
So I know what I’m talking about, both strategically and tactically as I have also been a frontline police officer locking up these criminals.
This is not a scourge which just impacts our cities – there are county lines operating in towns and villages right across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Child abuse too
There are many other types of serious organised crime, including criminal networks which sexually abuse children for gratification and financial reward, enabled by the internet.
This is cyber-enabled crime, a new and increasing threat to us all. We are more likely to be a victim of cyber-enabled crime, such as fraud, then any other crime.
And, of course, rural and business crime, with high-cost plant and machinery stolen by sophisticated organised criminals.
Disruption and confiscation
We need to continue to keep our county and country hostile to organised criminals, putting them in jail where we can, disrupting them when we can’t and hitting them where it hurts most – by confiscating all their ill-gotten gains.
If re-elected I will…
1. Continue to support and fund the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU), the team leading the fight to tackle serious organised crime across our region.
2. Continue to engage with and support the National Crime Agency, encouraging more operations to fight serious organised crime in our county.
3. Continue to lead the county response to tackle organised crime by chairing the countywide High Harms Board.
4. Continue to lead the county’s implementation of the government from Harm to Hope drug strategy by being the county senior responsible owner.*
5. Further invest in serious violence reduction, focussing on early intervention with additional youth services keeping children and young people safe.
* Sources
National Crime and Policing Measures – Cambridgeshire.
New strategy to tackle organised crime.
From harm to hope: a 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives.
Darryl Preston is the Conservative candidate in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner election on 2nd May 2024. There's more about Darryl on the About Darryl Preston page.