Wednesday 1 June 2022 12:07 AM Police should start kicking down doors to catch criminals, top cop tells ... trends now
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Police need to be more visible and focus on ‘putting doors in to catch people’, the new chief inspector of constabulary has said.
Andy Cooke, the former chief constable of Merseyside Police, wants forces to re-evaluate their priorities amid concerns that too much time is being spent dealing with mental health issues and chasing children skipping school.
He said officers must attend house burglaries and neighbourhood teams need to be more visible in their communities taking action, not doing a ‘PR job’.
Mr Cooke, 57, said: ‘Neighbourhood policing isn’t about walking down streets kissing babies on the head and waving to shopkeepers. You’ve got to have an edge.
Andy Cooke, the new chief inspector of constabulary, has called for police to re-focus on 'putting doors in to catch people'
‘The neighbourhood officers have got to be seen to be taking action against problems that are there, whether that’s through problem-solving, whether that’s through putting doors in to catch people. It’s not just about a PR job.
‘Yes, it takes a resource to do it. But it’s the building block for everything else.’
Mr Cooke, who is two months into his
