— More crime prevention —
By further investment to keep all our communities safe, with a focus on diverting young people away from crime – and combatting domestic and sexual violence.
Part six of Darryl Preston’s six-point plan to continue #WeCutCrime in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
More crime prevention
As a young, uniformed frontline police officer in London, I took pride in being a ‘crime fighter’. I knew most of the criminals on my patch in west London and would make regular arrests for burglary, drugs, robbery and car theft.
This continued when I transferred to Cambridge in 1998.
I had a slightly different uniform, but the same job with the same inherent issues impacting communities. I had always understood prevention was better than cure, but largely saw my job as catching criminals.
12 year old burglar
I recall, when working in Cambridge, there was a prolific burglar, 12 years old and a one-person crime wave.
In the early hours of one morning and following a burglary, I went to his address to ‘enquire his whereabouts’. He was asleep on the stairs. He had no bed, no food in the house, a single incapable parent who used drugs and younger siblings who would no doubt be tomorrow’s generation of criminals.
Shortly after, and now a CID officer, I worked in the child protection team in Cambridge and would often be dealing with children at significant risk of harm through abuse and neglect – and quite often the same kids as the burglar asleep on the stairs.
Championing the voice of victims
My point is this: I did then, and still do, champion the voice of victims.
Burglary is a particularly nasty and impactive crime, a violation of our home, precious family belongings are forever taken away from us and a sense of not being safe in the one place we should be.
I know this because I have dealt with many burglaries as a police officer and have been a victim myself, a couple of days following the birth of my son when we were all asleep upstairs.
The police did their job and caught the criminal who burgled my house and I was grateful, though this was small compensation as the damage had been done. Prevention would have been far better for all.
Prevention, not cure
As for the burglar asleep on the stairs, well I arrested him and he eventually went to a young offenders institute only to be released shortly afterwards. He went on to being a one-person crime wave.
And now? Well, he is a career criminal, having cost us all by the crimes he has committed and the expense of the criminal justice system, probably hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax payers money.
But, had there been effective early intervention, there would be less victims of burglary, a young child may have flourished and we would have saved a lot of money.
Prevention needs a ‘whole system’ approach – partners coming together from different agencies, communities, businesses and charities to problem-solve at local, regional and national levels.
Strong leadership as PCC
I promised to make prevention a priority when I became your Police and Crime Commissioner in 2021.
And I did just that.
I have led the countywide response to preventing crime. During my current term of office I have invested £21.5m in crime prevention and victims services, extra money secured from government or from the proceeds of crime, the ill-gotten gains of criminals.
I have invested £13.3m to keep our streets safer, targeting sex offenders who cause so much harm to women and girls along with projects to cut burglary and anti social behaviour.
£6.9m has been invested in crime and disorder reduction, funding projects with partners that would have kept the 12-year-old burglar from committing crime.
Another £1m has been directed to keeping our roads safe, including vehicles and equipment for enforcement.
And, £200K to support over 60 local youth projects, keeping our children out of harms way.
But, does it work?
Sir Robert Peel founded the Metropolitan Police in 1829 and set nine principles of policing which are as relevant today as they were then. One of the principles states…
‘That the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.’
Does it work?
Yes, as these figures for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough show…
- Neighbourhood crime is down 24%.
- The abhorrent crime of burglary down 37%.
- Anti-social behaviour down 30%.
- Knife crime down 25%, with 54% fewer hospital admissions.
- Rural crime down 21%.
- Bike theft down 56% – and our roads are safer.
If re-elected in May, I will show that strong leadership – and...
1. Continue to ensure effective crime prevention strategies are in place across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
2. Continue to support our Community Safety Partnerships by investing in people and projects.
3. Continue to lead the countywide High Harms Board.
4. Make further investments in business crime prevention, from cyber threats to shoplifting.
5. Continue to fund services combatting domestic and sexual violence.
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.