10,000 more police on the streets – cut crime and the fear of crime.

By getting rid of Labour’s expensive, illiberal and ineffective ID card scheme, we will pay for 10,000 police on top of Labour’s plans. We will also complete existing plans for an extra 20,000 community support officers to back them up. The average police officer today spends more time in the police station than they do on the streets. We will give the police the technology they need, and simplify the bureaucracy they face, to allow them to spend more time on patrol and less time tied to the desk. We will concentrate more police efforts on tackling drug traffickers and those drug users who resort to crime to feed their habits, rather than criminalising people possessing cannabis only for their own personal use.

Make offenders pay back to victims and their communities. 

Liberal Democrats will make more non-violent criminals, such as fine defaulters, shoplifters and petty vandals, do tough community work as an alternative to jail. Experience shows that this reduces re-offending, gives them skills for legitimate work, and means that they pay back to the community. Through Community Justice Panels, local people will have more say in the punishment offenders carry out in the community – for example, by making them clean off graffiti or repair damage to victims’ property.

Get tough on anti-social behaviour. 

Many towns and cities are becoming no-go areas at the weekend. We will tackle excessive drinking by cracking down on licensees who serve people when clearly drunk or under-age. We will make big late-night venues contribute to the cost of extra late-night policing. Unacceptable noise and offensive behaviour will be tackled through Acceptable Behaviour Contracts agreed between the individual, their family, the police and the local authority. Where individuals do not co-operate we will use Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, plus appropriate measures to tackle underlying causes.

Link to full Manifesto