Don’t let individuals off if they steal meals in desperation, minister tells police | Police

The policing minister, Kit Malthouse, has disputed the suggestion of the chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, that the price of living crisis will set off an increase in crime, branding it “old school” thinking.

As inflation hit a 40-year high of 9%, Cooke mentioned on Wednesday that officers should use their “discretion” when deciding whether or not to prosecute people who steal with a purpose to eat.

Showing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday, Malthouse, a longtime ally of Boris Johnson, stated Cooke’s thinking was “old style”, including: “Because individuals 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 in the function last month.

Malthouse has advised officers not to let shoplifters off if they are stealing food out of desperation throughout the price of living crisis.

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

“In reality I wrote to chief constables only a yr or so in the past saying they should not be ignoring those seemingly small crimes,” he stated.

Earlier, the minister instructed Times Radio: “The broad rule is that justice should be blind and I hope and consider that's the precept that sits behind not simply the police however the operation of the courts as well.

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

Cooke had earlier mentioned: “The affect of poverty, and the impression of lack of opportunity for people, does result in a rise in crime. There’s no two ways about that.”

When asked how policing might avoid being seen as the arm of an uncaring state, he said forces throughout England and Wales were skilled in dealing with the tensions and dynamics of their communities.

“What they’ve obtained to keep in mind is what's the best thing for the group, and that individual, in the way in which they take care of those issues. And I actually fully assist police officers using their discretion – and they should use discretion extra often.”