Avon and Somerset Police have spent £5,000 on a flower garden, in an effort to reduce local crime rates.
The idea is that a communal area will reduce anti-social behaviour. As a result, the regenerated part of St. Andrew’s Park becomes another area of questionable policies in Bristol, after the mayor’s proposal of “Residents’ Parking Zones” . While the new garden is no doubt pleasant, it’s effectiveness in cutting down on crime is clearly an area of doubt. This sort of item is for local councils, not police budgets.
As our Chief Executive Jonathan Isaby told the Telegraph, we worry that police might spend more of our money on similar woolly schemes, which shouldn’t be their responsibility. Local police budgets should be used on more effective, proven methods. The need to focus on core responsibilities is especially acute when Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has made it clear in their recent report that forces will have to cut spending in the coming years. Many forces have already dramatically reduced the number of ‘bobbies on the beat’. How can these police forces spend that same money on such oblique methods?
Nobody can object to the flowers brightening up the area. But the money should come from the appropriate place, preferably a local fundraising scheme. It seems that the police are wasting their time and taxpayers’ money on something that shouldn’t concern them.