Safety & Crime

Catherine West MP chatting to local police officers

Violent crime has shot up over recent years at the same time as devastating Tory and Lib Dem austerity has seen 21,000 police officers taken off UK streets, 760 youth centres closed and schools at crisis point. In London since 2010 we’ve seen neighbourhood policing numbers slashed by a staggering 75% and, when criminals are charged, trials are delayed for years because of the biggest courts backlog on record.

In Parliament, I’ve led a debate on violent crime in our borough, met with the Home Secretary to urge an end to police funding cuts and called for a special fund to help children at risk of school exclusion. Hundreds of local people signed the open letter I delivered to Downing Street urging the Government to act now on this national emergency.

A Labour Government would bring back neighbourhood policing by putting 13,000 extra neighbourhood police and Police Community Support Officers on our streets, and we’d tackle the epidemic of violence against women and girls by delivering specialist support for victims in every police force.

My latest updates on this issue

My column for the Ham & High: the Tory criminal justice failure

Here’s my latest column for the Ham & High on the failure of our criminal justice system after thirteen years of the Tories. Read online here or in the print edition, on sale now. “When I visited Wandsworth Prison earlier this year I met some incredible prison officers working in exceptionally…

Update from Finsbury Park women’s safety walk

Thank you to everyone who joined last week’s women’s safety walk in Finsbury Park with Haringey Police. It was a helpful opportunity to feedback concerns and discuss how the park can be made safer for everyone to enjoy. Several suggestions have been taken away by Haringey Police and Haringey Council…

Back to school safety of young people in Hornsey & Wood Green

As young people in Hornsey & Wood Green returned to school, I have been in contact with Haringey Police to discuss their plans for increased patrols. You can read my summer update here following my high-level meeting with the Police, the Council’s community safety officers, the Head of the Mayor…

Safety of young people over the summer

Earlier this month I co-ordinated a high-level meeting with the Police, the Council’s community safety officers, the Head of the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, and my Haringey colleague David Lammy MP to specifically discuss preventing youth violence and keeping our streets safe over the summer. I discussed the…

Tackling our court backlogs

When I visited Wandsworth Prison at Easter, 75% of prisoners were still awaiting sentencing. These shameful delays are letting down victims and leaving our prisons dangerously overcrowded. They are the result of 13 years of disastrous Tory choices and incompetence. Today, at Justice Questions, I asked the Minister what he’s…

Findings of the Casey Review into culture and standards within the Met

This morning I joined a call with Sarah Jones MP, Shadow Policing Minister, to discuss the findings of the Casey Review into culture and standards within the Met. It was clear from last year’s interim findings that this report was going to be damning for the Met. It is. It…

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