Don’t let folks off in the event that they steal meals 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 cost of living disaster will trigger an increase in crime, branding it “old style” thinking.

As inflation hit a 40-year high of 9%, Cooke said on Wednesday that officers ought to use their “discretion” when deciding whether to prosecute individuals who steal as a way to eat.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Malthouse, a longtime ally of Boris Johnson, stated Cooke’s thinking was “old style”, adding: “As a result of people are challenged financially … that doesn’t essentially 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 within the role last month.

Malthouse has told officers not to let shoplifters off if they're stealing food out of desperation throughout the price of living disaster.

He later advised LBC, ministers would guarantee police don't turn a blind eye to shoplifters stealing meals.

“The truth is I wrote to chief constables only a year or so in the past saying they should not be ignoring these seemingly small crimes,” he stated.

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

“I have to problem this connection between poverty and crime. What we’ve discovered prior to now, and where there is now rising evidence, is that actually crime is a contributor to poverty. That should you remove the violence and the crime from folks’s lives they generally prosper greater than they otherwise would.”

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

When asked how policing might avoid being seen because the arm of an uncaring state, he mentioned forces throughout England and Wales have been expert in coping with the tensions and dynamics of their communities.

“What they’ve got to bear in mind is what is the smartest thing for the group, and that individual, in the way in which they take care of these issues. And I actually absolutely help cops utilizing their discretion – and they should use discretion extra usually.”