‘The Fight Against Violent Crime Is A Key Priority For Me’- Margaret Mullane MP.

The Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham, Margaret Mullane MP, today shares her regular column with the Havering Daily.

The fight against crime, particularly violent crime, is a key priority for me locally and nationally. Society can’t be at ease with itself unless we feel safe on our streets and in our homes. 

On becoming the MP for Dagenham and Rainham I gave a commitment to listening to the concerns and issues that are of importance to local people. 

Local trades people whose livelihoods were threatened by tool thefts and shop staff in Elm Parkwho have faced violent threats from shoplifter gangs, came to me. I acted on both. 

So I am delighted that the Government has adopted the measures I proposed in the Theft of Tools Bill that I cosponsored in Parliament to crack down on these crimes. I have also worked with local police to get the support these shop workers deserve.

The work of the police and justice system are central in the fight, but we mustn’t neglect the underlying issues because if we don’t we’ll never get to grips with cutting crime.  Supporting effective policingmeans freeing up officers from back office duties to be on the streets. The last decade saw the nearcollapse of the criminal justice system delaying bringing people to justice. Justice delayed for victimsis justice denied, we must speed up getting cases in front of judges.

The dysfunction doesn’t stop there. Our prisons are in crisis, before the election prisons were literally at bursting point. The level of reoffending by people having been in prison is scandalously high. Currently, 27% of prisoners go on to reoffend, for those serving less than 12 months, a staggering 56% reoffend. Based on these numbers, rather than a deterrent and rehabilitating offenders, prison has become a university for crime.  

The work of the owner of the Timpsons chain, now appointed as a Government Minister, points to ways for cutting reoffending for non violent ex prisoners reviewing sentencing, getting them into jobs earning a wage and putting their lives in order. 

But we must stop people starting on a life of crime. Many readers will remember and perhaps attended youth centres. 14 years of slashed council budgets saw closures to centres and reductions in youth services. What a short sighted approach from those Tory years, instead now in too many places a gang culture exists. 

Many offences are related to mental health and addiction problems, with police officers having to intervene to deal with the failures of health and care services that have been stripped to the bone. Fixing these issues will take pressure off the police and bring much better outcomes for us all.

Action is needed to rectify the damage inflicted in those austerity years. It won’t be easy, but for our safety it’s positive that a start has been made. Now I want that fight stepped up.

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