Harlow Labour respond to Labour’s ‘mission on crime.’ 

A spokesperson said: “Yesterday Labour set out our mission on crime, with ambitious, measurable, long-term promises to make Britain’s streets safer. After 13 years of Tory government, policing is yet another public service that is collapsing. The Tory hands-off approach has failed.  

Labour will overhaul policing in order to restore public trust. We will introduce mandatory, nationally set police vetting, to ensure only those who are fit to serve are able to become a police officer.  

There will also be a new focus on standards of leadership and training, alongside a renewed emphasis on tackling crime through neighbourhood policing, as part of a package of measures to tackle the toxic culture revealed in the Casey Review. 

 · The range of measures to restore public trust also includes:  

o Automatic bans for any potential applicants with a history of domestic abuse, indecent exposure, or sexual assault. 

 o New leadership training to overhaul culture within the police. 

 o 13,000 more neighbourhood officers and PCSOs. 

 o Specialist rape and sexual assault units in every force and domestic violence specialist call handlers in every 999-control room.  

o Specialist mandatory training for every officer, including on bias and violence against women and girls.  

o More routes into policing for people from every background, including direct routes into detective work. 

Harlow Labour Leader Chris Vince, who stood to be Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in 2021, welcomed these policies stating: 

 ‘For too long the safety of our communities has been let down by over a decade of Conservative cuts to policing.  We need more police in our communities, listening to those communities and ensuring that they build trust in the police and that victims of crime feel they will get justice.  We also need a police force which is properly resourced and trained.  However, we also have a leader who recognises that access to justice doesn’t just end with policing and that backlogs in court waiting times also need to be urgently addressed. 

I want to pay tribute to Harlow Police for the hard work they do under increasingly difficult circumstances and welcome the news that the next Labour government will make policing and public safety a priority.’