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<p>We are ensuring police forces have sufficient resources to respond to the challenges they face, delivering on our manifesto commitment to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers by March 2023. As a result of the Government’s Police Uplift Programme, as at 31 March 2023, the Metropolitan Police had a headcount of 35,411 officers, higher than the pre-PUP peak of 33,820 in March 2010.</p><p>However, decisions on how resources are utilised are an operational matter for Chief Constables and locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to make resourcing decisions within their communities based on their local knowledge and experience. This will include activity such as Operation London Bridge, which involved the Metropolitan Police working in partnership with others to tackle the issue of illegal gambling, and crimes such as pickpocketing which can occur when people stop to watch, on Westminster Bridge.</p><p>Moreover, the public rightly expects police to respond when these crimes occur, working with partners across the justice system to see more criminals charged and prosecuted. We therefore welcome the police commitment to pursue all ‘reasonable lines of enquiry’ where there is a reasonable chance it could lead them to catching a perpetrator and solving a crime. This commitment, announced on 28 August, has been worked up and agreed by the Home Office, in tandem with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing.</p> |