Police chiefs have condemned Boris Johnson’s high-profile strategy to tackle crime as “weird and gimmicky”, while plans to increase stop-and-search were criticised for ignoring the evidence. The shadow justice secretary, David Lammy, said the plan was “tinkering” and would do nothing to rebuild a broken system. Under the plans, offenders doing community service would wear hi-vis as they clear canals or clean graffiti. “The intention is to make the price of crime visible,” one Home Office source said. Police Federation leaders, representing 130,000 rank and file officers, are furious their pay has been frozen, and condemned the crime plan as containing gimmicks and being ill thought out.

Source: The Guardian July 27, 2021 18:45 UTC