Political opinion: Yvette Cooper MP: Getting more Bobbies back on the beat in Castleford & Pontefract

Four additional police officers are being assigned to the Castleford Neighbourhood Policing Team – that’s a 50% increase - and two are being assigned to the Pontefract and Knottingley Policing Team. West Yorkshire Police have said this will mean they will run seven days a week shift cover across the towns for the first time for very many years as well as increased patrols to crack down on antisocial behaviour. Current shift patterns make it too easy for criminals to work out what days the police will not be around in town.

The increase in officers is the direct result of the Labour Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee including a £200 million funding boost to kickstart recruitment across the country which will see over 100 new neighbourhood police officers in West Yorkshire this year and 3000 more police and PCSOs across the country. This is just the start, with significant further increases in neighbourhood police planned in future years too. Wakefield Council are also backing that up by increasing town centre enforcement officers so everyone works together to deliver safer streets.

This is something I have been campaigning for locally for years, and now I’m working nationally to make neighbourhood policing a top priority for the Labour Government so we get more police back on our streets.

For years under the previous government, neighbourhood policing across the Wakefield District and across the country was cut right back. In my local crime surveys, 90% of people who replied said they saw fewer police on the beat compared to several years ago.

For too long, I think the Conservatives dismissed town centre crimes and as “low level,” and neighbourhood policing as unimportant. Yet if small number of people are allowed to cause havoc in town centres committing crime and antisocial behaviour, that is a nightmare for residents, local businesses and shop staff and it undermines our communities.

I believe the police also need stronger powers to tackle antisocial behaviour quickly, working directly with local people. That’s why alongside the extra police, I’ve put forward new laws in Parliament to make it easier to ban persistent offenders from town centres, and go after antisocial off-road bikes.

In my recent crime survey, 63% of people said that there was a problem with noisy and dangerous off-road bikes in their area – affecting estates and communities from Airedale to Knottingley to Chequerfield. That’s why I want to change the law so police can seize nuisance e-bikes, scooters, and off-road bikes on the spot, without the need for a warning.

After years of bobbies disappearing from our streets, Labour is now rebuilding neighbourhood policing – to make our town centres safer, restore community confidence and ensure that the police once again have the powers and backing they need to do their job.