Don’t let individuals off if they steal meals 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 dwelling crisis will trigger an increase in crime, branding it “old-fashioned” considering.

As inflation hit a 40-year excessive of 9%, Cooke said on Wednesday that officers should use their “discretion” when deciding whether or not to prosecute people who steal so as to eat.

Showing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Malthouse, a longtime ally of Boris Johnson, said Cooke’s considering was “old style”, adding: “Because individuals are challenged financially … that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to turn 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 in the position last month.

Malthouse has told officers to not let shoplifters off if they are stealing food out of desperation during the cost of residing crisis.

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

“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 informed Instances Radio: “The broad rule is that justice needs to 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 properly.

“I have to challenge this connection between poverty and crime. What we’ve found up to now, and where there's now growing evidence, is that actually crime is a contributor to poverty. That for those who take away the violence and the crime from individuals’s lives they often prosper greater than they in any other case would.”

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

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

“What they’ve obtained to remember is what is the smartest thing for the community, and that particular person, in the way in which they cope with those issues. And I definitely fully support law enforcement officials using their discretion – and they should use discretion extra typically.”