John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, has slammed Prime Minister Theresa May after the premier claimed there was no link between cuts to police budgets and the exponential rise in knife crime in recent years.
Speaking during a visit to Salisbury to mark a year since the ever-mystifying nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, May claimed there was “no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers”, despite cuts since 2010 meaning 21,000 fewer officers and 7,000 Police Community Support Officers on the streets.
In an official statement, Apter lashed back, calling May “delusional”.
“Our Prime Minister is…steadfastly refusing to acknowledge what is plain for everyone else to see, and in the face of a national crisis that is deeply concerning. Policing has been stripped to the bone and the consequences are clear, splashed across newspaper front pages and TV news bulletins — children being murdered on our streets. What makes this all the more sickening is that it was predicted. This is the true cost of austerity we warned of but were ridiculed for doing so. May herself accused the Police Federation of ‘crying wolf’ when we highlighted our concerns. Those concerns have become a reality but still the Prime Minister fails to accept the harsh truth,” he raged.
Figures cited by Federation reveal the number of children in England aged 16 and under being stabbed rose by 93 percent 2016 — 2018, and the number of police recorded offenders aged under 18 committing homicides using a knife or sharp instrument, rose 77 percent (from 26 to 46) in the same period.
The war of words comes in the wake of the murders of Yousef Ghaleb Makki and Jodie Chesney, both 17. Chesney, a girl scout, was murdered in cold blood in Romford 1 March by an unknown attacker who marched up and knifed her in the back. The very next evening, Makki, a pupil at Manchester Grammar School, was stabbed in a wealthy Greater Manchester village. Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of his murder.
“We need now is less talk and more action, fewer policies and more police officers — boots on the ground, out there on our streets making a real difference, protecting our youngsters. Yet politicians, who have in their power to make this effective and meaningful change, choose to merely tinker around the edges with new-look ASBOs and catchy hashtags. This is bigger than party politics, the government need to treat this as the national emergency it is and reinvest to ensure our public services are able to respond effectively to this crisis. The public deserve better, they need our so called leaders to step up and lead, to stop the bloodshed and end this criminal waste of young life,” Apter concluded.