Rowley merger proposals cannot come at the cost of communities, say Lib Dems

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

Responding to Sir Mark Rowley's proposals for police force reform, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson, Max Wilkinson MP, said:

"Policing is in crisis, and public trust has collapsed. Scrapping PCCs is the right first step. Liberal Democrats have called for it for years - they were a costly Conservative failure. However, if merging forces means officers become more distant from the communities they serve and less able to respond to local crime, that’s a serious mistake. People want visible, trusted local officers. Any reform must guarantee a police counter in every community, so everyone has somewhere to turn to report a crime, get advice and tip off the authorities.

“Rowley is right that the system is also utterly failing to cope with the sophistication of modern criminals but just merging forces isn't going to fix that. The Liberal Democrats would create a new agency to go after the most serious online crimes, from child sexual abuse material to deepfake abuse, funded by £250 million a year from the tech giants whose platforms enable these crimes.”

ENDS