Oscar Gill-Lewis: Don’t privatise, or centralise – reform the Police
Trust is earned, not demanded.
Oscar Gill-Lewis is a political commentator with Young Voices and Correspondent Program Manager at Speak Freely Magazine. He writes for Speak Freely and on Substack, and his articles have appeared in Conservative Home, The Daily Express, and Comment Central.
Shabana Mahmood recently unveiled her plan to reform “broken” policing in England and Wales. She is absolutely right that it needs reforming. Unfortunately, many of the reforms leave much to be desired.
Many will turn to the Conservative Party, which proudly maintains its desire to be the party of law and order. Interestingly, both the Conservatives and Labour seem to align on two key policies: hire more police officers and reduce bureaucracy.
Readers will remember Diane Abbott’s infamous gaffe, where she simply could not remember or produce the amount of money they planned to pay the 10,000 new police officers Labour wanted to recruit. Boris Johnson made this a reality by hiring 20,000 more police officers, after a 15 per cent decrease in officers between 2009 and 2018.
Having more police and officers in the force sounds like a great idea and is very intuitive. If we can give the police a numerical advantage and strength in numbers, then criminals will be deterred and law and order restored. Obviously, numbers matter up to a point. But the persistence in keeping hiring more officers misses the actual point. There are so many reforms that you could and probably should do before increasing the number of police hires, because it makes it easier to know when you have a sufficient number of police.
It also makes sense from an election standpoint, why the policy is so favoured. Voters make clear links between the number of police officers and a reduction in crime, and therefore their safety. The Conservatives want to hire 10,000 police officers over 3 years, while Labour want to put 13,000 neighbourhood police “back” on the streets.
This is both dull and predictable from both parties, however the Home Secretary’s recently announced plans offer a golden opportunity for the Conservatives. Mahmood’s plan ranges from the conceitful to the outright dangerous. She wants to reduce “excessive” bureaucracy but plans to centralise many of the local forces, absorbing around two-thirds. Trying to reduce excessive bureaucracy while centralising an organisation is like trying to slow down while pressing the accelerator. It is unwise and ‘fatally’ conceited. Mahmood also plans to have 40 more facial recognition vans. Regardless of its efficacy, it is a form of soft authoritarianism and has no place in a free society. The plans will allow Kemi Badenoch to offer policing reforms that go beyond ‘more bobbies’ and will have a greater but cheaper impact.
The Conservatives need not press the privatisation button …
Trust is earned, not demanded.
Oscar Gill-Lewis is a political commentator with Young Voices and Correspondent Program Manager at Speak Freely Magazine. He writes for Speak Freely and on Substack, and his articles have appeared in Conservative Home, The Daily Express, and Comment Central.
Shabana Mahmood recently unveiled her plan to reform “broken” policing in England and Wales. She is absolutely right that it needs reforming. Unfortunately, many of the reforms leave much to be desired.
Many will turn to the Conservative Party, which proudly maintains its desire to be the party of law and order. Interestingly, both the Conservatives and Labour seem to align on two key policies: hire more police officers and reduce bureaucracy.
Readers will remember Diane Abbott’s infamous gaffe, where she simply could not remember or produce the amount of money they planned to pay the 10,000 new police officers Labour wanted to recruit. Boris Johnson made this a reality by hiring 20,000 more police officers, after a 15 per cent decrease in officers between 2009 and 2018.
Having more police and officers in the force sounds like a great idea and is very intuitive. If we can give the police a numerical advantage and strength in numbers, then criminals will be deterred and law and order restored. Obviously, numbers matter up to a point. But the persistence in keeping hiring more officers misses the actual point. There are so many reforms that you could and probably should do before increasing the number of police hires, because it makes it easier to know when you have a sufficient number of police.
It also makes sense from an election standpoint, why the policy is so favoured. Voters make clear links between the number of police officers and a reduction in crime, and therefore their safety. The Conservatives want to hire 10,000 police officers over 3 years, while Labour want to put 13,000 neighbourhood police “back” on the streets.
This is both dull and predictable from both parties, however the Home Secretary’s recently announced plans offer a golden opportunity for the Conservatives. Mahmood’s plan ranges from the conceitful to the outright dangerous. She wants to reduce “excessive” bureaucracy but plans to centralise many of the local forces, absorbing around two-thirds. Trying to reduce excessive bureaucracy while centralising an organisation is like trying to slow down while pressing the accelerator. It is unwise and ‘fatally’ conceited. Mahmood also plans to have 40 more facial recognition vans. Regardless of its efficacy, it is a form of soft authoritarianism and has no place in a free society. The plans will allow Kemi Badenoch to offer policing reforms that go beyond ‘more bobbies’ and will have a greater but cheaper impact.
The Conservatives need not press the privatisation button …
Oscar Gill-Lewis: Don’t privatise, or centralise – reform the Police
Trust is earned, not demanded.
Oscar Gill-Lewis is a political commentator with Young Voices and Correspondent Program Manager at Speak Freely Magazine. He writes for Speak Freely and on Substack, and his articles have appeared in Conservative Home, The Daily Express, and Comment Central.
Shabana Mahmood recently unveiled her plan to reform “broken” policing in England and Wales. She is absolutely right that it needs reforming. Unfortunately, many of the reforms leave much to be desired.
Many will turn to the Conservative Party, which proudly maintains its desire to be the party of law and order. Interestingly, both the Conservatives and Labour seem to align on two key policies: hire more police officers and reduce bureaucracy.
Readers will remember Diane Abbott’s infamous gaffe, where she simply could not remember or produce the amount of money they planned to pay the 10,000 new police officers Labour wanted to recruit. Boris Johnson made this a reality by hiring 20,000 more police officers, after a 15 per cent decrease in officers between 2009 and 2018.
Having more police and officers in the force sounds like a great idea and is very intuitive. If we can give the police a numerical advantage and strength in numbers, then criminals will be deterred and law and order restored. Obviously, numbers matter up to a point. But the persistence in keeping hiring more officers misses the actual point. There are so many reforms that you could and probably should do before increasing the number of police hires, because it makes it easier to know when you have a sufficient number of police.
It also makes sense from an election standpoint, why the policy is so favoured. Voters make clear links between the number of police officers and a reduction in crime, and therefore their safety. The Conservatives want to hire 10,000 police officers over 3 years, while Labour want to put 13,000 neighbourhood police “back” on the streets.
This is both dull and predictable from both parties, however the Home Secretary’s recently announced plans offer a golden opportunity for the Conservatives. Mahmood’s plan ranges from the conceitful to the outright dangerous. She wants to reduce “excessive” bureaucracy but plans to centralise many of the local forces, absorbing around two-thirds. Trying to reduce excessive bureaucracy while centralising an organisation is like trying to slow down while pressing the accelerator. It is unwise and ‘fatally’ conceited. Mahmood also plans to have 40 more facial recognition vans. Regardless of its efficacy, it is a form of soft authoritarianism and has no place in a free society. The plans will allow Kemi Badenoch to offer policing reforms that go beyond ‘more bobbies’ and will have a greater but cheaper impact.
The Conservatives need not press the privatisation button …
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