KK wrote:Hartlepool: The town where ‘police don’t come out’
After eight years of spending cuts affecting public services, the government has said austerity is coming to an end.
But what has the effect of less money been on local communities?
The BBC has been following officers in one of England's poorest towns to investigate how budget cuts impact police on the front line.
Cleveland Police cover the districts of Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton and Middlesbrough – all in the North East.
Video:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-462614 ... t-come-out
This situation is replicated all over the country. Some areas aren't in as bad a situation as others, and I'm sure some are even worse. The government are in complete denial, with ministers saying if the locals want more money spent on policing then they will agree to raise their council taxes to pay for it. The problem is many of the worst affected areas are poor areas as the money from central government is distributed on outdated stats and figures. So it's the poorer reason that in general then have to raise their council tax event higher to try to plug the gap.
Labour are just as bad in my book as their opposition to police funding cuts is basically none existent. Just a few soundbites every now and then.
Added to all this crime is increasingly either complex (financial, fraud or gang related) or just violent so more officers are needed to deal with each crime or incident compared to say 20 years ago.
And to top it all off half of the public don't care until they are victim because they have a natural hatred towards the police as they don't like authority.
