Candidates in TV row over police numbers

From: The Northern Echo



THE by-election's only head-to-head debate yesterday descended into an argument about police numbers in County Durham.

As the TV debate between the candidates from the three main parties came to an end, Labour's Phil Wilson handed the Liberal Democrats' Greg Stone a letter from the chairman of Durham Police Authority, demanding that the Lib Dems publicly withdraw claims about falling police numbers.

The chairman, Peter Thompson, who is a Labour councillor in Durham City, said a Lib Dem leaflet headlined Disappearing Police was "irresponsible" and "scaremongering".

However, last night the Lib Dems produced figures from the Durham Policing Plan Annual Report to show that 11 fewer full time officers are to be employed than a year ago.

The dispute appears to be about the timescale because Mr Wilson said that Durham now employs 239 more officers than it did ten years ago - a figure supported by Mr Thompson's letter.

The dispute will continue today as the new Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, visits this lunchtime and the Lib Dems' Shadow Home Secretary Nick Clegg is at Newton Aycliffe police station this evening.

The argument began on the BBC's Politics Show from Redworth Hall Hotel.

Mr Thompson said in his letter to Mr Stone: "To wrongly imply that there will be a cut in police numbers goes beyond the realm of political debate and becomes scaremongering."

He said the leaflet would increase the fear of crime, and that the force was currently recruiting "to ensure police numbers stay strong".

The Lib Dems' figures show that in 2006-7, Durham employed 1,716 full-time officers while in 2007-8, it employed 1,705.

Mr Stone said: "It was only by imposing a staggering 34 per cent increase in the police bill to every Council Tax payer that the police authority managed to avoid the cuts being much worse.

"What Labour are trying to hide is that, while the cost of policing and crime is going up, the number of officers is going down."

Mr Wilson said: "The Lib Dems have shown their true colours by misleading the people of this constituency in a desperate attempt to hide their record on tackling crime and anti-social behaviour.

"If they got their way, crack houses would be allowed to stay open, rapists would walk free due to lack of DNA evidence and teenagers no matter what they did would never go to jail."

The Conservatives' Graham Robb said: "Crime isn't just about police numbers. We have a broken society, with problems with drug abuse and families, and the way our town centres are designed."

THE UK Independence Party candidate Toby Horton has met Durham Police to discuss security of the 13,000 postal votes.

Postal votes have in the past been subject to fraud, but Mr Horton said he was confident that the police were following the new guidelines.

He said: "The public should be vigilant with their postal votes and not give them to anyone else to fill in."