The greatest concern my constituents have raised with me over the last nine years has been over law and order. We know the impact this on peoples lives whether the most serious crime or that persistent nuisance that is not being dealt with.
This is why I have held public meetings with the police, carried out extensive crime surveys and have regularly met the local policing leadership to share your concerns.
When an off-duty police officer approached me to explain how disastrous the police iOps computer system was, I took action on this because it was putting the lives of police officers at risk and undermined their ability to protect people and enforce the law. I wasn’t surprised when GMP was plunged into ‘special measures’.
Combined with other concerns over policing such as the closure of Bolton’s custody suite and all it symbolised, I took up your concerns about local policing with the Home Secretary. This led to a change of leadership and a transformation in local policing.
With a change of leadership, we have seen the number of arrests double, a 32.2% reduction in burglaries and a 28.5% reduction in vehicle theft. The cultural shift can also be seen in 999 response times with GMP now ranked with the quickest response times in the country.
We are also seeing a welcome return to community policing, with dedicated teams of police officers patrolling neighbourhoods across Bolton, Westhoughton, Horwich and Blackrod. I am delighted that as part of our national police recruitment campaign GMP has now received 1,280 new police officers. now recruited 1,280 new police officers. GMP now has 8,200 officers, the most it has had in its history.
I will continue to listen to your concerns on crime locally and fight for more policing resources across Bolton West.
For more information about what I have been doing to combat crime and anti-social behaviour, see some of the news articles below.
