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

The policing minister, Package Malthouse, has disputed the suggestion of the chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, that the price of living crisis will trigger an increase in crime, branding it “old school” thinking.

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

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

The chief inspector of constabulary is the top of the unbiased 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 final month.

Malthouse has instructed officers not to let shoplifters off if they're stealing meals out of desperation throughout the cost of residing crisis.

He later told LBC, ministers would ensure police don't flip a blind eye to shoplifters stealing food.

“Actually I wrote to chief constables just a yr or so in the past saying they should not be ignoring those seemingly small crimes,” he stated.

Earlier, the minister instructed Times Radio: “The broad rule is that justice needs to be blind and I hope and believe that's the principle that sits behind not simply the police however the operation of the courts as well.

“I've to challenge this connection between poverty and crime. What we’ve found previously, and where there may be now growing evidence, is that really crime is a contributor to poverty. That in the event you remove the violence and the crime from individuals’s lives they often prosper more than they otherwise would.”

Cooke had earlier mentioned: “The impact of poverty, and the affect of lack of alternative for folks, does result in a rise in crime. There’s no two ways about that.”

When requested how policing may keep away from being seen because the arm of an uncaring state, he mentioned forces across England and Wales had been skilled in dealing with the tensions and dynamics of their communities.

“What they’ve got to keep in mind is what's the neatest thing for the group, and that individual, in the best way they cope with these points. And I certainly totally support cops using their discretion – and they should use discretion more typically.”