The police should focus on fighting real crimes rather than making “symbolic gestures,” the UK’s new home secretary has told police chiefs.
In an open letter dated Sept. 23, Suella Braverman said she was “dismayed by the perceived deterioration of public confidence in the police” and said that “culture and standards in the police have to change, particularly in London.”
“The public have a right to expect that the police get the basics right: driving down anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood crime which can so easily rip through our communities,” she wrote.
Police officers wear face masks as they patrol the city centre in Manchester, England, on Oct. 20, 2020. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Braverman noted that “there is a perception that the police have had to spend too much time on symbolic gestures, than actually fighting criminals.”…