Reducing crime in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

He writes:

As an ex senior police officer, I know reducing crime takes a two-pronged approach – preventing crimes from happening in the first place and robust enforcement when they occur.

These two themes became central to my Police and Crime Plan.

My first promise was to recruit many more police officers.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary now has a record 1,732 police officers – exceeding government targets.

Some say this is just replacing those lost as a result of austerity.

In Cambridgeshire that is simply not true: in fact we have 400 more police officers compared to 2015, a 30% increase.

As a result crime is down:

• Neighbourhood crime – DOWN 24%.
• Household burglary – DOWN 37%.
• Anti-social behaviour (ASB) – DOWN 30%.
• Rural crime – DOWN 21%, hare coursing down 73%
• Recorded knife crime – DOWN 25%... with 54% fewer hospital admissions.
• Bike theft – DOWN 56%.
• Roads are safer with serious injuries and fatalities down.

But this is not just about enforcement – preventing crime, and road accidents, matters as much as catching criminals.

Secured £21.5m of additional funding

I have listened to the concerns of local people and led multi-agency partnerships to act on those concerns.

And over the past three years I have secured £21.5m of funding from government – additional to the annual central government grant – to prevent crime and support victims.

This money has been invested in over 100 projects to keep our communities safe, in our cities, towns and villages.

Through working with our Community Safety Partnerships, we are seeing the results locally – the tackling of county lines and knife crime – with some great initiatives in our schools; reduction of shoplifting in our high streets; preventing fly tipping with mobile CCTV equipment and then successfully prosecuting the offenders.

Bike thefts down

In 2021 I promised to tackle bike theft. In my view this was a public confidence issue in policing as many thought the police just did not care.

Well, they do now with bike theft massively down across our county.

And as a result of my commitment to tackle rural crime, the Chief Constable bolstered the Rural Crime Action Team (RCAT).

Along with my investment in Cambridgeshire Countryside Watch and new legislation, rural crime is down – with the blight of hare coursing down a huge 73%.

And I have done more to protect business

I have run webinars on cyber crime prevention and invested in the Eastern Cyber Resilience Centre a police owned company, helping businesses keep safe from cyber attack.

The constabulary now has dedicated retail crime officers – along with prevention packs funded by my office, shoplifting is down 14%.

For more information on my achievements to date, please read my last annual report to the Police and Crime Panel.

However, I know there is more to do and that is why I am committed to maintaining more police and keeping our streets safe.

If re-elected on 2nd May I will…

1. Further tackle crime and ASB – with even more investment in local policing.
2. Put Communities first – ensuring the police are visible.
3. Work to make our roads safer – with further investment to reduce speeding and prevent casualties.
4. Continue the fight against drugs and violence – with further investment in prevention to reduce demand, dismantle county line drug gangs and their associated violence.
5. Maintain my commitment to tackle rural crime – with further investment in rural safety.
6. Prevent crime – with further investment in early intervention schemes, including beating the scourge of domestic and sexual violence.

Darryl Preston is the Conservative candidate in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner election on 2nd May 2024. There's more about Darryl on the About Darryl Preston page.