You and Yours - 27/07/2010

Call You and Yours with Julian Worricker. An opportunity to contribute your views to the programme. Email [email protected] or call 03700 100 444 (lines open at 10am) Could the police get by with less money? It seems inevitable that they will have to because the government has promised to cut government departmental spending by upto 40%. In the last 15 years while crime has halved the police budget has doubled to nearly £14 billion; has the drop in crime reported by the British Crime Survey come about because the police are now better resourced than ever or is society changing and with it the nature of crime? The crimes we fear the most are crimes of violence and crimes against property but our chances of suffering from either has dropped away year on year for the last fifteen years to the point that the probability of your home being burgled in the coming year is 2%. Although 'more bobbies on the beat' is a consistent refrain from the public, research suggests that the impact of police walking neighbourhood streets has a marginal impact on crimes and criminal behaviour. With the government's pressing need to cut public expenditure, would now be a good time to look more critically at the funding and function of the police?