FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that 3,000 neighbourhood officers and community support officers will be deployed next year as part of the Labour government’s “Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.”
The initiative aims to combat the “culture of crime” and represents a 50 percent increase in neighbourhood policing, with plans to deploy 13,000 new officers by 2029.
Key features of the initiative include named, contactable officers for every neighbourhood, dedicated patrol teams for town centres and crime hotspots, and a lead officer in each police force to tackle antisocial behaviour.
Starmer criticized the current state of neighbourhood policing as a “postcode lottery,” citing a decline in visible policing and rising crime rates.
The initiative aligns with broader efforts to address street crime, including measures in the Crime and Policing Bill to remove immunity for thefts under £200 and allow warrantless searches for electronically geolocated stolen items.
Home Office data reveals a sharp rise in thefts, with 78,000 incidents reported in the year ending March 2024, more than double the previous year’s figure.