Labour needs to defend its crime record – Andy Kelly
Rochdale's Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Rochdale, Councillor Andy Kelly has claimed Labour's local record on crime is 'criminal'. He was speaking after shocking figures revealed that three-quarters of vehicle crime and 76% of street thefts and pickpocketing were not even investigated by Greater Manchester Police. Other shocking statistics revealed by the Liberal Democrats showed 62% of criminal damage and arson, along with one in three cases of shoplifting, are never investigated by Greater Manchester Police.
Instead the force, run by Labour politician Tony Lloyd from 2012 until last week, simply gives victims a crime reference number. The figures were obtained by the Liberal Democrats under Freedom of Information laws.
Councillor Andy Kelly, also leader of Rochdale Liberal Democrats, said: "I appreciate that Greater Manchester Police have seen cuts. It's clear though that under the mismanagement of Labour politicians their priorities are all wrong. Take for example, Manchester City Centre, wher epolice are tripping over each other on a Saturday night. When was the last time you saw an officer patrolling the streets of places like Deeplish, Kirkholt, Littleborough or elsewhere in our Borough?
"Speaking to residents, it's clear that many communities feel unsafe. These figures show that Greater Manchester Police have let our communities in Rochdale down. This happened on Tony Lloyd's watch and he needs to defend a poor track record as our crime boss."
Andy highlighted the fact that figures for the current year show that 42% of all recorded crimes for the first few months of 2017 were not investigated, greater than the percentage in 2014.
Andy added: "As our Police and Crime Commissioner, Tony Lloyd was responsible for setting GMP's crime priorities. He failed to implement successful preventative approaches to reducing crime by working with local communities. If elected as Rochdale's new MP, I will get to grips with crime in our Borough and ensure that we have the right resources to ensure that every complaint to Police is investigated. This is not the fault of our hard working officers - this is a failure at the top of policing. This is why politics should play no part in policing. I look forward to questioning Tony Lloyd on this and other policing issues in the coming weeks."