Guildford MP spends Friday night on the beat with local police

3.23.26pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 23rd Nov 2004

Local MP Sue Doughty found out what it is like to be on the front line in the battle against crime when she spent Friday night on patrol with local police.

The biggest concerns voiced by local police were lack of resources and being strangled by bureaucracy.

The Lib Dems' policy on crime would reduce the burden of bureaucracy and focus on creating more police, more visible police and more effective police. We are committed to an extra 10,000 officers over the next 5 years. We would ensure that civilian staff are used wherever possible to take over the form filling and for low-level policing, freeing up police officers' time to tackle more serious crime, deter offenders and improve clear-up rates.

Sue said:

"Many people contact my office every week with problems of crime and anti-social behaviour. People want action to deal with the problems. I wanted to see for myself just what is being done."

"I am angry that despite the Labour Government's tough talking on crime, on the ground our local police still lack resources and Police Officers are forced to waste hours every day on paperwork and red tape. It's just not good enough. I will certainly be writing to the Home Secretary about these issues."

"Local police are working hard but could do even better if we gave them the tools and the resources they needed."