Don’t let folks off if they steal food in desperation, minister tells police | Police

The policing minister, Kit Malthouse, has disputed the suggestion of the chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, that the cost of residing crisis will set off an increase in crime, branding it “old school” thinking.

As inflation hit a 40-year high of 9%, Cooke mentioned on Wednesday that officers ought to use their “discretion” when deciding whether or not to prosecute people who steal with a view to eat.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Malthouse, a longtime ally of Boris Johnson, said Cooke’s pondering was “old-fashioned”, adding: “As a result of people are challenged financially … that doesn’t necessarily imply they’re going to show to crime.”

The chief inspector of constabulary is the head of the independent assessor of police forces in England and Wales. Cooke, a former chief constable of Merseyside police, took over from Sir Tom Winsor within the function final month.

Malthouse has informed officers to not let shoplifters off if they are stealing food out of desperation during the price of dwelling disaster.

He later told LBC, ministers would guarantee police do not turn a blind eye to shoplifters stealing meals.

“In fact I wrote to chief constables only a 12 months or so in the past saying they should not be ignoring these seemingly small crimes,” he said.

Earlier, the minister instructed Times Radio: “The broad rule is that justice should be blind and I hope and consider that is the principle that sits behind not just the police but the operation of the courts as well.

“I've to problem this connection between poverty and crime. What we’ve discovered previously, and the place there's now rising proof, is that actually crime is a contributor to poverty. That if you happen to remove the violence and the crime from individuals’s lives they generally prosper greater than they otherwise would.”

Cooke had earlier mentioned: “The impression of poverty, and the influence of lack of alternative for individuals, does lead to a rise in crime. There’s no two methods about that.”

When requested how policing might avoid being seen because the arm of an uncaring state, he said forces across England and Wales have been skilled in dealing with the tensions and dynamics of their communities.

“What they’ve got to remember is what is the smartest thing for the community, and that particular person, in the way they take care of these points. And I definitely fully help police officers using their discretion – and they need to use discretion extra typically.”