Question 4: There is a lot of crime in my neighbourhood and no one is doing anything about it. Graffiti, vandalism, drug dealing and violence. What will change if you are the MP?

I know exactly what you mean as I see the graffiti and vandalism everyday as I walk into work. Even low level anti-social behaviour such as fly-tipping can make an area feel unsafe and things swiftly degenerate. New York shows that it is possible to get a grip and cut crime. Over the past twenty years, serious crime in New York has fallen by 80 per cent, thanks to proactive community-based policing and the intelligent use of new technologies and crime data.

Recorded violent crime against the person has risen sharply under Labour, yet police officers spend more time on paperwork than they do out on patrol. Labour’s obsession with bureaucratic targets and box-ticking is hindering the fight against crime.

We can’t go on with the police filling in forms instead of fighting crime.

So here’s what Conservatives will do.
In some parts of the constituency, I have found that people do not have much confidence in the police and have issues with the way they carry out their duties. People have raised points about Stop and Search and the number of deaths in police custody. Policing relies on consent. People want to know that the police are listening to them, and the police want to be able to focus on community priorities, not ticking boxes.
1) We will replace the existing, invisible and unaccountable police authorities and make the police accountable to a directly-elected individual who will set policing priorities for local communities. They will be responsible for setting the budget and the strategy for local police forces, with the police retaining their operational independence.

Giving people democratic control over policing priorities is a huge step forward in the empowerment of local communities, and we will go further by giving people the information they need to challenge their neighbourhood police teams to cut crime.

2) We will rebuild confidence in the criminal justice system so that people know it is on the side of victims and working for law-abiding people, not criminals. And we will reform the police, giving them back their professional
discretion – getting them out of police stations and onto the street, fighting and preventing crime – in return for making them truly accountable to the people they serve.

3) We will overhaul the Licensing Act to give local authorities and
the police much stronger powers to remove licences from, or refuse to grant licences to,
any premises that are causing problems. In addition, we will permit local councils to charge more for latenight licences to pay for additional policing.

4) We will introduce a series of early intervention measures, including grounding orders, to allow the police to use instant sanctions to deal with anti-social behaviour without criminalising young people unnecessarily.

Put the criminal justice system on the side of the public
Today, almost four out of every five people found guilty of a knife crime escape jail. We have to send a serious, unambiguous message that carrying a knife is totally unacceptable, so

5) we will make it clear that anyone convicted of a knife crime can expect to face a prison sentence.

6) We will introduce mobile knife scanners on streets and public transport, and extend the length of custodial sentences that can be awarded in a Magistrates’ Court from six to twelve months.

7) Our criminal justice system often lets down the victims of crime, so we will ensure that victims and their families are better informed about the progress of criminal proceedings and release of offenders. So that the public can be confident their views are accounted for in deciding sentences, we will examine the case for greater Parliamentary scrutiny of sentencing guidelines.

8 ) We will change the law so that anyone acting reasonably to stop a crime or apprehend a criminal is not arrested or prosecuted, and we will give householders greater legal protection if they have to defend themselves against intruders in their homes.