Government sets out its plans for fewer victims of crime: The Beating Crime Plan
As the UK unlocks from Covid- 19 restrictions and returns to a sense of normality, the government outlines its strategic plans to cutting crime. The Beating Crime Plan, announced on 27th July 2021, sets out how the government intends to reduce murders, serious crime and ‘hidden harms’ such as fraud and online crime as well as domestic abuse.
The plan also sets out how it will build capacity within neighbourhoods, and in particular those small number of neighbourhoods responsible for a disproportionate and persistent level of crime.
There is a renewed determination to tackle the root-causes of crime, especially drug-related crimes.
The plan sets out specific measures to drive down crime – namely:
- Reconnecting the police with the public ensuring every single person living in England and Wales will have access to the police digitally through a national online platform, allowing them access to a range of interactive police services in one coordinated place, including contact details for their neighbourhood police teams so they can raise any concerns with their neighbourhood officers directly.
- Improving the responsiveness of local police to 101 and 999 calls by developing league tables showing the public how responsive their force is to calls for service.
- Intervening early to keep young people safe and away from violence – including a new £17 million package focused on those admitted to A&E with a knife injury or following contact with police.
- Investing over £45 million in specialist teams in both mainstream schools and Alternative Provision in serious violence hotspots to support young people at risk of involvement in violence to re-engage in education.
- Expanding the use of electronic monitoring for serious acquisitive offenders to a further 13 police force areas – covering half the country – and ensuring that many more neighbourhood criminals have their movements tracked upon release from prison, supporting probation and the police to deter and detect further acquisitive crimes.
- Trialling the use of alcohol tags – which detect alcohol in the sweat of offenders guilty of drink-fuelled crime – on prison leavers in Wales to help change behaviour and reduce violence and other alcohol-related crime.
- Encouraging prison leavers to turn their backs on crime by securing employment. The government will work with employers and pledges to recruit 1,000 prison leavers into Civil Service roles by the end of 2023.
- Empowering the police to take more knives off the streets and to prevent serious violence by permanently relaxing conditions on the use of section 60 stop and search powers.
- Expanding the role for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) – launching the second part of the government’s PCC Review to equip PCCs with the tools and levers they need to drive down crime and anti-social behaviour in their local areas.
The Plan also includes new tactics and investment to deal with the problem of illegal drugs, which we know are a key driver of these crimes.
Measures to tackle drugs include:
- Investing £31 million to expand Project ADDER1, which combines tough law enforcement with increased provision of treatment and recovery services – to eight new local authorities across the country.
- Increasing the police’s use of drug testing on arrest to crack down on recreational drug use and ensure those involved in crime after using drugs are identified.
- Delivering a cross-Government summit to work up a comprehensive package of measures that will drive down demand for illegal drugs and tackle these challenges cross society.
To read more about The Beating Crime Plan click here.