Minister for crime admits there is ‘of course’ a link between number of police officers and violent crime

Sorry Theresa

"Of course" there is a link between the number of police officers on Britain’s streets and the amount of violent crime, the minister for crime told JOE. Victoria Atkins, the government minister for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability, contradicted the prime minister’s previous assertion that the rise in violent crime to the UK’s highest ever level was nothing to do with cuts to the police officer. The number of fatal stabbings In the UK is at its highest level since the second world war and violent crime is a record high. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFOBEfgCGVw Since the Conservatives entered government and implemented austerity there are 21,000 fewer police officers on the streets and funding has decreased overall by 19 per cent. Few people would contest that there is a relationship between the number of police officers and crime rates - why else have them? Then again, few people are as obstinate as the prime minister. During a police operation to remove weapons from the streets of Lewisham in south London, part of Operation Sceptre, the minister for crime told JOE that "of course" there is a link between the amount of police officers and crime. Victoria Atkins said: "There are many factors that cause serious violence. "The major driver actually is the drugs market. We are investing up to £970 million in the police next year and I’m really pleased that lots of police and crime commissioners are choosing to use that money to put extra officers on the street." So, the minister would accept then that the number of police officers is a factor in reducing violent crime? "I think the police are a really, really vital part of this equation, of course they are," Atkins said. "But there is much more to this than law enforcement alone. "We have to make sure that we’re intervening early, for these young children, particularly, that are being ensnared by these gangs." https://twitter.com/OliDugmore/status/1106871798589730816