South East Cambridgeshire MP Lucy Frazer talks about police and crime issues.

 

I was out and about in Ely recently with the Police and Crime Commissioner, Darryl Preston, and officers from Cambridgeshire Constabulary to discuss recruitment and approaches to crime in our local area.

Bolstered by the Government’s successful ‘Police Uplift Programme’, the force now has 1,732 officers in post which is a record high.

The constabulary has also benefitted from a four per cent increase to its budget in 2023-24 when compared to 2022-23, charged in part by the £17.2 billion national Police Funding Settlement announced by the Home Secretary earlier this year.

Across Cambridgeshire, we are seeing crime falling. According to the Police and Crime Commissioner Annual Report 2022-2023, neighbourhood crime is down 30 per cent and this includes a 49 per cent drop in bike theft and a 44 per cent reduction in residential burglary.

Bike theft is a crime I have been contacted about frequently, and notably by users of Cambridge North Station, where it seems to be a recurring issue.

Recently, I met with the British Transport Police and Greater Anglia to ensure that efforts are being stepped up to deter and arrest perpetrators, and I have since written to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to press them to fund additional fencing with key/fob access and eye-level CCTV.

We have also seen a 48 per cent reduction in hare coursing and poaching incidents when comparing 2021-22 to the last financial year.

This follows a successful campaign by local MPs and others for tougher hare coursing laws and for greater resources in the police’s Rural Crime Team. Hare coursing can now incur an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison, while our constabulary now has nine designated officers tackling rural crime.

In addition, I have worked to limit speeding on our roads. Locally, I have helped initiate speed enforcement checks in Ashley, Burrough Green, Fordham, and Lode; I have supported Burwell and Haddenham plan to reduce the speed limit to 20mph in some parts of the village; and I have endorsed Chippenham and Willingham’s bids for speed calming measures.

Meanwhile, the Government is making our streets safer. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough received £634,285 from Round 4 of the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund which has funded different community-based prevention schemes to reduce violence against women and girls, and the training of more than 200 professionals on how to utilise new powers and legislation to tackle anti-social behaviour.

It is anticipated that efforts to combat anti-social behaviour will be further strengthened by more patrols and an ‘Immediate Justice’ scheme across England from next year.

If you have any concerns about local patterns of crime, please do not hesitate to inform me via lucy.frazer.mp@parliament.