Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May came under pressure to increase police spending on Tuesday after a backlash over government handling of rising knife crime and her denial that funding squeezes were a cause.
A wave of fatal stabbings has dominated headlines this week, displacing concerns about Britain’s divorce from the European Union and fuelling criticism that May is neglecting other priorities during the interminable Brexit saga.
Britain’s most senior policeman contradicted her assertion there was no link between street violence and police numbers.
“In the last few years, police officer numbers have gone down a lot, there’s been a lot of cuts in other public services, there’s been more demand for policing, and therefore there must be some link,” said London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick.
“There is some link between violent crime on the streets, obviously, and police numbers, of course there is, and I think everybody would see that,” she told LBC radio.