Public Confidence in the Police

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Thank you, Sir Alec, for calling me to speak. I also thank the hon. Member for Pendle and Clitheroe (Jonathan Hinder) for his introduction. The debates he brings to the House, and to Westminster Hall in particular, are usually on policing matters. He and I resonate in our comments, support and the thrust of where we are from. Interventions from others have also indicated that. I thank the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) for her 12 years of service, which is appreciated by all. I have no doubt that the hon. Lady made a positive and constructive mark in her 12 years.

I want to start by paying tribute to the wonderful work of local policing in my Strangford constituency and across Northern Ireland by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. I commend Superintendent Johnston McDowell, who is responsible for policing the area I represent, along with his dedicated team in Ards and North Down. I also commend Chief Superintendent Haslett, who covers the Newry and Down side of the constituency. They work tirelessly, day in, day out, with incredibly limited resources, to keep our communities safe. We sleep easy in our beds because of the commitment of police officers across the borough.

The PSNI has been active in responding to rural crime, which is an issue. Alongside the Ulster Farmers’ Union, of which I am a member, they mark trailers, tractors and machinery. Sometimes, stolen machinery, cattle and other livestock are moved to the Republic of Ireland. Dear knows where they end up; it could be over here or even further afield.

The PSNI is stretched to the limit, yet its commitment to public duty never wavers. I have seen the policing of events, such as the 12 July parades, at which the police are vigilant yet certainly in high spirits. We thank them for the balanced way they police those parades. I have seen difficult situations where cool heads were needed, and they did not fail to meet expectations.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that confidence in policing is often undermined by the public’s use of finite clips on social media, which do not take account of what happened immediately before whatever incident is broadcast? Senior police officers and Government Ministers need to respond quickly in respect of the entire environment around the clip. We all remember the attacks in Manchester where, initially, videos seemed to show police officers overreacting, but a few weeks later the reality of what actually happened came to light. More account needs to be taken of the environment in which clips that undermine confidence are used.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend and colleague for highlighting that matter. A two, three or five-second clip sometimes gives an impression of what is happening, but a wee bit more discretion and sight of what happened beforehand would be useful.

Commitment alone cannot fill the gaps left by a lack of funding. I welcome the Minister to her place and thank her for coming. I know she is not the Minister responsible, but I wonder whether she or the Minister for Policing and Crime has spoken to the PSNI or met the Minister responsible for policing and justice in Northern Ireland, Naomi Long, to ascertain the problems there. Superintendent Johnston McDowell and his team want to be more proactive, and I always think we should focus on preventive work, and more community policing.

I am old enough to remember when—the hon. Member for North East Fife referred to this—everybody knew every officer in the area where they lived. Different times mean different pressures and different needs, but I have always supported community policing in all my years as an elected representative, throughout my time on the council and in the Northern Ireland Assembly before coming here. We should, for example, encourage police officers—this is something I want to do and have tried to push—to be more involved in visiting schools. That is a chance to interact and engage with young people, to build lasting relationships and to foster trust from an early age. If those relationships can be built, the confidence and trust can be built upon.

In Northern Ireland, the PSNI is considering introducing police cadets, which I am very supportive of and which I asked the PSNI to look at. I have spoken about it to the Justice Minister, Naomi Long, who has responsibility for policing, because I think there is an opportunity for us in Northern Ireland to build on police cadets in the way that we perhaps did in the past but have lost over the last number of years. The PSNI is keen to pursue this in a pilot scheme, and I have suggested that that scheme should be in my constituency of Strangford and perhaps the neighbouring constituency of North Down. The police cadets could be an organisation that gives young people the opportunity of a job that they might be interested in and that is also about building social engagement and interacting with people.

Grassroots community policing is how we stop crime before it starts and how we build relationships in communities, but the police urgently need the funding and resources to make that happen. Without the cash, these vital community links simply cannot be sustained. I am sorry to say that, although crime is falling marginally across the rest of the Province, Ards and North Down, parts of which are in my constituency, is one of the few areas where crime has increased.

In particular, there has been a problem with antisocial behaviour. I know that the police are trying to address it in conjunction with the chambers of trade and with shopkeepers in the high street. Local shopkeepers in Newtownards and families in Downpatrick are dealing with rising antisocial behaviour, yet the thin green line is stretched thinner than ever.

With, for instance, CCTV in the centre of town and in the shops, we can ascertain what is happening and catch those involved in antisocial behaviour and theft, which is rising for shopkeepers in the constituency that I represent. At the end of the day, if someone comes into a shop and they have a knife or otherwise threaten the person behind the counter, nobody needs to be a hero in this world. The wise thing to do is to stand back and let the CCTV and the police handle the issue when it comes to following it up and trying to catch those involved.

However, we must be honest about why general public confidence is being undermined. There is a growing and deeply concerning perception about police resources. I will say this to the Minister: although policing is a devolved matter for us back home, I want to make some comments, if I may, about the focus of the police, which means they sometimes do what is unnecessary. I will give an example. When a person makes a comment on social media that is not threatening or whatever, and the next thing they know the police are at their door to ask them why they did that and what their intentions are, while real crime on the streets is not being followed up, that causes a growing and deeply concerning perception that police resources are being misdirected towards policing offence rather than preventing actual crime.

We live in a nation built on Christian heritage and values, yet we see—I say this with great respect—street preachers simply declaring the word of God being arrested on our streets. Why? Because somebody objected. Yet real crime—burglaries, car thefts, muggings and other attacks—seems to be set aside while a squad of officers descend on someone preaching the gospel to arrest him or her on the streets. That causes, I have to say, immense distress to the public. People look on in utter astonishment when someone sharing the gospel is handcuffed and hauled away while at the same time no one is available, it seems, to investigate the muggings, car thefts and house burglaries.

I will give another example. When a grandmother’s home is broken into and she is told, “A police officer can’t attend for a few days, but they will be there,” yet there is a street preacher down the road who just happens to be preaching the gospel and a squad of officers arrive and arrest that person for causing offence, public confidence does not just falter—it shatters. The public want to see the police focusing on thugs, thieves and burglars, not on policing speech or theological debate, which seems illogical and unnecessary.

I am ever mindful that back in Northern Ireland we have had a sustained IRA campaign that my hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) and I have lived through physically, both as elected representatives and as citizens of Northern Ireland. The emphasis on paramilitary activity has decreased greatly, but there is still a constant threat from that small portion of militant republicans who seem to want to take us back to the bad old days. The police seem to have got the better of them at this stage and have been able to catch them before they do most things, but a bomb was found in south Armagh over the last weekend and we have also had attacks in Belfast and Lisburn where the IRA militant group seemed to be intent. The issue for us in Northern Ireland is that we still have a terrorist campaign that, while greatly reduced, still has the ability to bring chaos.

To conclude, we must give our local teams—that is Superintendent Johnston McDowell, Chief Superintendent Haslett and Chief Constable Jon Boutcher—the funding they need to embed themselves in our communities while also ensuring that policing priorities return to common-sense core law enforcement. We need to police crime, not offence. That message must come from this place and resonate throughout every policing district within this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and I believe that it must begin today.

--- Later in debate ---

[Max Wilkinson (Cheltenham) (LD)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I congratulate the hon. Member for Pendle and Clitheroe (Jonathan Hinder) on securing the debate.

Something odd has happened recently that has turned the debate about crime and policing in this country on its head. The hard right have always presented themselves as the defenders of law and order, but a problem has arisen because people on the hard right, in Reform and parties such as Restore, have started to argue about two-tier policing. That is a daft suggestion—there is nothing of the sort—but such accusations are a real problem in this country, because all sorts of issues have arisen and trust in the police has diminished specifically as a result.

According to the Office for National Statistics, confidence in the police has decreased in the past decade, even if crimes against people and property have mostly decreased. Tackling that will require proper resourcing. The hon. Member for Pendle and Clitheroe mentioned the 20,000 police yo-yo: there were 20,000 police fewer, and then the previous Government restored them. There is still a question about whether the Government have fulfilled, or are on track to fulfil, their pledges on police numbers.

[Jim Shannon]

At the same time as the number of officers remains the same, the population has increased dramatically. Surely the right way of doing this would be to ensure that if the population increases, the number of officers does too. Does the hon. Member agree that the 28,000 would not be enough, and that it should be more?

[Max Wilkinson]

I have an awful lot of sympathy with what the hon. Member says. We could get into a debate purely about police numbers—I know that the hon. Member for Pendle and Clitheroe was not keen to—but we should focus on not just the numbers but the visibility of police officers. We need police counters in our local communities and police officers on our streets.

In contrast with Members who have suggested there is two-tier policing, I would like to place on record my party’s thanks and admiration for hard-working police officers and their public service—I believe there are at least two former officers here today. I would also like to thank the police team in Cheltenham, ably led by Inspector Steve Benbow and Superintendent James Glansfield, who I visited recently. This debate is not about parochial local issues, but it is important when we have experience of joining our police officers on the streets that we reflect that in this Chamber.

During my visit, I learned that police officers in Cheltenham work very hard in increasingly difficult circumstances. I joined Inspector Benbow and Superintendent Glansfield as part of Operation Shield, which followed a summer in which we suffered very visible antisocial behaviour and crime in our town centre, and I know that that has been reflected in towns and cities across the country. One of the most arresting things I learned was that even in Cheltenham, which most people think of as a well-heeled place, there are several, mostly independent, shops where large groups of teenagers are making the lives of the shop workers and owners a misery. We were shown a video captured on a mobile phone by a shop owner of what looked like dozens of teenagers. They apparently go into that shop several times a week, steal stuff and abuse staff. That is not acceptable.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jo White]

As I am standing in for the Policing Minister, I cannot immediately answer that question, but I am sure that the hon. Member will get an answer as quickly as possible.

We are committed to a wider review of the police funding formula to ensure that force funding is fair and keeps the public safe. A new approach to allocating funding will be brought in as part of our reforms to police structures.

Public confidence in policing depends on communities knowing what they can expect from the local police service and on seeing those expectations met. That is why the Government are introducing local policing guarantees, which will provide greater transparency and accountability on the policing services that matter most to the public.

The Government have committed to setting clear expectations on the issues that matter most to the public, including a target for forces to attend 90% of the most serious incidents within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in rural areas, alongside measures to improve the speed with which 999 calls are answered. However, public confidence is about more than response times alone. It is also shaped by whether victims receive a good service and whether forces are effective at tackling crime.

HMICFRS’s recent “State of Policing” report urged forces to make urgent improvements in how they investigate crime and secure justice for victims. Forces must get the basics of investigation right. The Government are strengthening the way police performance is monitored and improved. Through the policing performance system, inspection findings are brought together with analysis against the police performance framework to provide a comprehensive picture. This enables earlier identification of concerns and targeted support in collaboration with the College of Policing, and intervention where required. A stronger focus on delivering better outcomes for victims and the public will play a key part in rebuilding and maintaining trust and confidence for victims of crime and communities.

[Jim Shannon]

I understand and respect that this is a devolved matter, but I asked a question on which I hope the Minister can give me the assurance that I seek. Northern Ireland is one part of the United Kingdom where terrorism is still active, although to a lesser extent. To police that correctly and effectively the PSNI needs resources. Will the Minister please have discussions with the relevant Minister to ensure that it has those resources? She has given an assurance on resources elsewhere in the United Kingdom; we in Northern Ireland need equal and effective resources, to ensure that the terrorism threat in Northern Ireland is dissipated and reduced.

[Jo White]

I will ensure that the hon. Gentleman’s request is passed to my colleague the Policing Minister when she returns.

All communities deserve to have trust and confidence in the police. That starts with ensuring that those who enter policing are vetted and assessed thoroughly and remain suitable to work in policing throughout their service. This year we delivered our manifesto commitment to introduce mandatory standards on vetting. As part of those standards, applicants who have a caution or conviction for relevant VAWG offences, including domestic abuse and sexual offences, are disqualified from entering policing. A presumption of withdrawal of vetting clearance applies for serving police officers in these circumstances.

The Home Office has provided HMICFRS with £100,000 for this financial year to expand the scope of its integrity inspections. These will now look at recruitment and selection processes alongside vetting in every force in England and Wales. We have also provided £425,000 to the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council to develop an accredited regime on vetting. This will include the development of standardised training and stronger intervention in forces that are not complying with vetting standards.

The Home Office has to date provided approximately £3.5 million towards the NPCC’s continuous integrity screening programme. This is developing a system that will provide automated alerts from the police national database to forces in relation to anyone working in policing, enabling forces to take action earlier. Where police fall short of the standards expected of them, the public rightly expect that they will be held to account. The Independent Office for Police Conduct plays a crucial role in overseeing the police complaints system. It also investigates the most serious and sensitive matters, such as deaths and serious injuries and serious allegations of corruption involving the police. The Government announced plans to reform the governance of the IOPC to strengthen its accountability and resilience.

On 30 July the Home Secretary launched an independent end-to-end review of the police accountability system. It will be chaired by Dame Lynne Owens and Jason Beer KC, and will report in six months. It will establish whether the police accountability system is fit for purpose, whether it is transparent, and how we can minimise avoidable delays for victims, families and officers.

I agree that public confidence and trust in policing have been damaged by the social media clips referred to by the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell). Trust cannot be built through slogans or by drawing policing into wider debates. It is rebuilt when people see officers on their streets, know that crimes will be investigated, receive a proper service when they need help and have confidence that the highest standards are upheld. I agree with the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson) that we as MPs have a responsibility to develop and give respect to the police officers in our communities, and to signal the way in which we should work with the police in order to build community strength and cohesiveness in the constituencies we represent.

Trust in the police matters because policing in the UK is fundamentally based on consent. When people trust the police, they are more willing to report crime, share information, act as witnesses, comply with the law and work with officers to solve local problems. We recognise that trust and confidence are stronger in some communities than in others, and that confidence has declined over time. That is why the Government are focused on practical action: restoring neighbourhood policing, increasing transparency about police performance, strengthening accountability, modernising police force structures and ensuring that forces have the support they need to tackle the crimes and antisocial behaviour that matter most to local people.

The reforms are about having the right policing in the right place, so that people feel safer, see police where they live and know they will get the help they need when they need it. The programme is needed to improve effectiveness and restore public trust, creating a stronger, more co-ordinated national approach to the capabilities that underpin policing. The public do not want a police service that is distracted from its core mission; they want a police service that prevents crime, protects communities and serves victims. That is exactly what our reforms are designed to deliver.

Let me turn to the matter of people knowing who their local police officer is. Neighbourhood policing is essential to restoring public confidence in the police. Officers who know their communities are better placed to understand local concerns, respond to issues that matter to residents and provide visible reassurance when needed. Every community deserves to have visible, proactive and accessible neighbourhood police officers. Through the neighbourhood policing guarantee, we are strengthening the connection between police and their communities by committing to delivering 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of this Parliament.

The Government recognise the profound and lasting impact that sexual violence can have on victims. We know that victims do not always receive the response or support they deserve, and that that has contributed to these crimes being under-reported. I am listening to the points raised by the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain). That is why we are committed to improving the police response to sexual violence to ensure that all victims are heard, taken seriously and treated with dignity.

To ensure consistency, we established the national centre for VAWG and public protection in April 2025. The centre provides co-ordinated national leadership in policing to tackle violence against women and girls. In addition, the centre is supporting all forces to implement the learnings of Operation Soteria, an academic-informed programme that has transformed the investigation of rape and sexual offences. As part of this, forces must maintain a commitment to continuous improvement—an acknowledgment that ongoing learning is essential to improving outcomes and experiences for victims. We want every force to have the right specialist capability to address sexual offences. That is why we have asked all forces in England and Wales to implement specialist rape and sexual offence teams by December 2027.

Hate crime is a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, which places clear legal duties on platforms to take proactive action against illegal hate content online. The Government also fund the national online hate crime hub, the national policing capability dedicated to online hate crime.

Let me say in response to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) that police and justice are devolved to Northern Ireland, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s main budget is allocated by the Northern Ireland Department of Justice. The Northern Ireland Executive’s programme for government recognises that PSNI officer numbers are low, and I welcome the Executive’s commitment to grow police officer numbers in line with the 2020 New Decade, New Approach agreement.

In closing, I again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle and Clitheroe for securing the debate, and I thank everyone who has contributed. We have covered a lot of ground, and yet the nature of the topic means that inevitably, there is much more that could be said. I know that the Policing Minister will take great interest in the discussion that we have had today, not least because the question of how we drive up confidence in policing is one that concerns us all and has an impact on the lives of everyone across this country. As I have set out, the Government are taking action across multiple fronts, and we will continue working closely with the police to ensure that they have everything they need to maintain public trust and deliver for the communities that depend on them.