In a speech at the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth, Lib Dem home affairs chief will call for police desks to be rolled out in supermarkets, libraries and shopping centres
Libraries, shopping centres and supermarkets should be used for police front desks as stark figures show an alarming fall in the last decade, ministers have been told.
On Saturday the Lib Dems will call for hundreds of desks across England and Wales, funded by scrapping police and crime commissioners. Lisa Smart, the party’s home affairs spokeswoman, told The Mirror a wave of closures which happened under the Tories means people are less likely to report crime.
She said: “Too many people feel like they don’t see a police officer, far too many people say it’s too difficult to report a crime, and far too many police officers say they need more intelligence from the public so that they can solve these crimes.
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“What we need to do is take down the barriers that stop people from doing that.” Freedom of Information data shows the number of police counters dropped from 365 to 268 in the decade from 2015 – a 26% fall.
Of 20 forces that responded, Bedfordshire Police came out worst, with a 78% reduction in police front desks over the last decade. Surrey Police saw a 60% drop, while West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Metropolitan forces had desks across their regions cut by 58%, 53% and 52% respectively.
In her speech on the first day of the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth, Ms Smart will say the cost would be met by scrapping police and crime commissioners (PCCs). The party has long called for PCCs – introduced by the coalition government in 2012 – to be abolished.
Research by the Lib Dems found PPCs cost £100million in admin costs between 2019 and 2023, while the West Midlands commissioner paid more than £100,000 a year. Ms Smart said “Police need to be seen, accessible. The best policing is when police are part of the community, people know where they’re going to be and can just nip by and share some information.”
She accused the Tories of decimating neighbourhood policing but claimed so far the new Government has “offered little more than pointless soundbites”. The Lib Dem crime chief said Labour has focused too much on town and city centres and not given enough attention to rural areas.
She also said the Government must be clearer on its plan to boost neighbourhood policing teams by 13,000 officers and PCSOs.
No10 has committed to getting 3,000 in place by next March and the full quota by the end of the current Parliament in 2029.
“Policing needs more resources,” she said. “It was under-resourced and let down by the last Tory government. Chief constables need to be able to plan for the long term. And we haven’t heard that clarity from government.”
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