56% of all anti social behaviour incidents in 2022 were unattended by a Police Officer in North Yorkshire.
Harrogate and Knaresborough’s Liberal Democrats have accused the Government of “losing control” as more than half of the 11,751 reported incidents of anti-social behaviour in North Yorkshire were unattended by the police in 2022.
The national figures paint a similarly dismal picture, with 63% of cases of anti-social behaviour in England and Wales going unattended. All figures were obtained by the Liberal Democrats through Freedom of Information requests to all police forces, to which 38 responded.
The shocking new data comes as the Conservative Government looks set to break its trademark promise to recruit 20,000 extra police officers. Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) numbers have also plummeted under the Conservative Party’s watch, with the number of active PCSOs falling by an average of 33% in England and Wales since 2015.
Anti-social behaviour reports vs attendance (North Yorkshire Police say they don’t have records for 2019 and 2020)
The Liberal Democrats say they are calling for a return to “proper community policing – where officers are visible, trusted and able to focus on preventing and solving crimes”
Commenting on the figures, Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat Spokesperson Tom Gordon said:
It’s clear the Conservatives have lost control of anti-social behaviour – and their response just isn’t good enough.
Our communities deserve to feel safe walking down their own streets. People should be able to feel that if they fall victim to anti-social behaviour, it will be taken seriously and police will attend.
Instead of more empty promises, it’s time for the Government to finally commit to proper community policing – where offices are visible, trusted, and able to tackle neighbourhood crime.
