TONIGHT ON MKFM: 'Worrying signs' there is still 'not enough' police in Milton Keynes, says Council Leader

    Tune into MKFM tonight at 6:30pm to hear the Leader of Milton Keynes Council discuss police numbers, begging outside MK Central and organised crime in Milton Keynes as part of our Crime Week.

    Since MKFM's last Crime Week back in August, multiple new operations and schemes have been launched in a bid to tackle crime in the city.

    MKFM Crime Week gives listeners and readers an opportunity to raise their concerns, ask questions, and receive updates from key figures within the city.

    Now, this week, MKFM Crime Week is back and tonight at 6:30pm we speak to Cllr Peter Marland, Leader of Milton Keynes City Council. MKFM will talk to the City Council Leader about knife crime, organised crime and police numbers.

    "We've still got concerns about police numbers," Cllr Peter Marland tells MKFM. "Only a couple of weeks ago we actually had an anonymous police officer come forward and say that one of their shifts were dangerously understaffed and that was the same case as it was last year."

    He says "Whilst the headline number of police officers is going up, a lot of that is being taken from community policing or PCSOs and we are not seeing the same investment in PCSOs - that is where I think people are now starting to see worrying signs that there isn't enough, for me, a reaction to low level incidents which are linked to high level incidents."

    Police numbers were the main topic of MKFM's crime week back in April 2022, following an on-going debate between the Police and Crime Commissioner, Council Leader and MPs.

    This week, Bracknell News has reported a huge drop in numbers of PCSO's.

    According to an analysis of new Home Office statistics from the House of Commons, it has been found that in the past eight years there are 171 fewer PCSOs, a decrease of 37.3 per cent, Bracknell News says.

    Matthew Barber said: “We saw a lot of PCSOs making the leap to move and we can’t stop them. It’s a great move for them and they often make fantastic police officers because they’ve got years of experience. However, that does leave us with a gap somewhere else," the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley Police told the paper.

    In March of last year, the MK Labour group released a press release regarding police numbers. The press release suggested that they had heard 2 new officers had been recruited for MK.

    MKFM reached out to the MPs and Police and Crime Commissioner who have said that 78 officers had actually been recruited at the time.

    Ben Everitt MP for Milton Keynes North told MKFM that his push for more police has been 'achieved'. MKFM also heard that there were more police than ever before.

    In a discussion with the MK Council Leader, he said the Labour figures came from a police officer and accused the Conservatives of 'massaging figures'.

    You can hear the full interview tonight (Monday 13), from 6:30pm on 95.0/102.1/106.3FM, DAB Digital Radio, online, on your mobile or smart speaker.

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