Chief is right to be concerned about releasing more offenders into the community
When the Justice Secretary unveiled the Government's policies for punishing more criminals in the community rather than prison, the public was assured that this would make the public safer by reducing re-offending rates.
Former Lord Chancellor David Gauke, who had been commissioned by the new government to review sentencing guidelines, said successive governments had placed too much emphasis on looking tough on crime, while failing to tackle reoffending rates. 'Smarter' use of different sentences would not only reduce pressure on prison places, but also make the public safer.
Well if the letter signed by West Midlands Chief Constable Craig Guildford is anything to go by, it would appear that view is not shared by those in the forefront of fighting crime.
Mr Guildford says his force will need greater resources to combat the inevitable increases in demand that will result from more offenders being at large. He warns that a combination of last year's early release scheme, which saw more than 16,000 prisoners walk free in less than four months, coupled with proposed cuts to the amount of time that future prisoners will spend in jail, will inevitably place a strain on already overstretched forces.
The present government will, with some justification, argue it had been left with little choice but to act, after the previous administration left the prisons full to bursting point. And while the previous government did increase policing numbers by 3,500 over its 14 years in officer, Mr Guildford and his colleagues are right to point out that this has proved to be insufficient to cope with the rise in population.
Meanwhile, Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire, says people will be 'worried sick' by the present government's proposals. Yet it was her party which was in coalition with the Conservatives during the 'austerity years' of the 2010-2015, when policing numbers were actually cutl.
The Government's review argues that recorded crime has been falling for some years. The problem is that does not match up with people's perceptions.
And given that these concerns now appeared to be shared by those in the front line of the fight against crime, people can be forgiven for feeling sceptical.