Nadine Dorries
Main Page: Nadine Dorries (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)Department Debates - View all Nadine Dorries's debates with the Home Office
(7 years ago)
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James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
The right hon. Gentleman’s point was about falling crime when numbers were being reduced, and about that trend apparently changing. That implies that the two are not directly linked, but surely we have to try to understand the factors causing that trend to change. Will he outline the steps that he thinks should be taken to ensure that, if we increase numbers, there is still productivity and crime is reduced?
Ms Nadine Dorries (in the Chair)
Order. Some interventions are a little long; I remind Members that interventions should be sharp and punchy.
Sir Edward Davey
I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s point. To say that only police numbers are related to crime is clearly not true, and the figures that I mentioned suggest that.
It is fair to say, from looking at police budgets and how the police have reacted to this difficult time, that they are becoming more effective. In response to the recent debate on Metropolitan police funding, the Minister talked about the efficiencies that the police are already making, including through technology; the use of cameras on lapels has a good impact on reducing tensions when making arrests. In my experience, the police are being more effective and efficient, and are thinking of new ways of doing things, and of smarter and more intelligence-led policing, but we still need the officers; that is my fundamental point.