Boris Johnson shuts down claims police are 'too woke' as he hails '38% drop in neighbourhood crime'
31 August 2022, 10:38
Outgoing PM Boris Johnson has shut down claims police are 'too woke', insisting neighbourhood crime is "down by about 38%".
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Mr Johnson made the remarks as he attended a raid with specialist officers near Lewisham, South London, where he spoke to staff from one of 20 so-called "violence reduction units" tasked with preventing crime through earlier interventions.
"Look at neighbourhood crime, which is the thing that really affects the quality of life of most people in this country, and it's down by about 38% on 2019 since this Government came in," he said.
"I think that's a great effort by the police, not just by the Metropolitan Police, by police up and down the country."
It comes after a report by the Policy Exchange think tank cited polling that four in 10 people worry that the police are more concerned with being 'woke' than tackling crime.
"I've just seen a bunch of police officers who woke quite a lot of drug dealers this morning and they woke them long before they were expecting to have their breakfast," said Mr Johnson.
"They woke them with warrants, and they woke them with the news that they were under arrest for causing misery in the communities of London.
"And that's what I want the police to do, that's what Priti [the Home Secretary] wants them to do."
The Policy Exchange report, written by an ex-Met DCI, recommended a "back-to-basics" approach, discouraging officers from acts meant to show solidarity for a cause - such as taking the knee - because of fears members of the public could see officers as taking a partisan view.
Mr Johnson also pointed to the recruitment of 13,700 extra police officers, though between 2009 and 2018 the number of police officers fell by 20,000 - several thousand more officers than the government has so far recruited.
The outgoing Prime Minister has just days left in office, as his successor will finally be revealed next Monday, concluding a weeks long leadership contest amid a cost-of-living crisis.
The two leadership hopefuls will face a grilling from LBCs Nick Ferrari tonight at 7pm - which will be broadcast live on LBC and Global Player.
