Press News
MP’s policing budget plea
7:34am Friday 10th February 2012
A YORK MP says cuts to North Yorkshire’s policing budget will “seriously undermine” the challenge of tackling crime in the city.
The Press reported this week that North Yorkshire Police has been forced to earmark £5 million in savings for 2012/13 to cope with continuing Government funding reductions.
In a House of Commons debate this week, York Central MP Hugh Bayley pointed to figures he has obtained showing that crime in York rose to 15,199 offences in 2010/11 as proof that police funding cuts are biting.
He said the statistics flew in the face of claims by Policing Minister Nick Herbert that offences were falling. He said: “It is deeply disappointing that at a time when crime is rising in York, the Government is cutting the number of police officers in North Yorkshire. This is not the way to cut crime and there is a real danger it will continue to spiral upwards. It costs much more in the long run to get the crime figures under control again, and every extra crime means another victim is left counting the cost.”