Yvette Cooper reverses Tory failure with vow to tackle knife crime and extremism

Yvette Cooper has vowed to drive down by bolstering neighbourhood police teams and getting more officers into schools.

The accused the Tories of losing control on youth crime after "decimating" the number of bobbies on the beat. It comes as across England and Wales by next year.

has also promised a summer "crime blitz", with ramped up hotspot patrols targeting muggers and shoplifters. Ms Cooper told The the police boost - funded with a £200million cash injection - means vital prevention and intervention work can resume after more than a decade of failure. She said: "Neighbourhood officers know what's happening in town centres.

"They also know what's happening around local schools. And where we've had knife crime in the evenings and threats towards young people, it's the neighbourhood police who will have that local knowledge.

"But those local neighbourhood police have been taken away. We've lost more than 10,000 people from neighbourhood policing teams over the last ten years."

Scroll down to see how many additional neighbourhood officers and PCSOs your area will get

The Home Secretary said the loss of neighbourhood teams means schools have found it harder to get help for children at risk from violence. Repairing these relationships will also help identify potential extremists, Ms Cooper stated.

She said: "I remember the head of counter-terrorism police some years ago telling me that what we really need is better neighbourhood policing. Because you get that local intelligence around tackling extremism from your neighbourhood police.

"It's that partnership right through to the most serious national crimes that all depends on having those local roots."

Under the Government plans, Greater Mancester Police will get up to 176 neighbourhood officers while the Met will be boosted by up to 420. West Midlands will gain up to 289 officers, while Merseyside will get an additional 97.

Ms Cooper said more resources will mean police can work with schools, social services, mental health support and community groups more effectively to prevent behaviour escalating.

The Home Secretary said: "All of those partnerships have really just been decimated, they've been fractured. If you don't have neighbourhood policing to work with, then it is much harder. It's much harder for schools. It's much harder for local social services. It's much harder for community organisations."

The Home Secretary added: "I had one neighbourhood police officer who I knew in our area. He's retired now but he was a police officer in the same town for 20 years.

"And he used to say he knew when the kids were starting to get into trouble, he knew who their dads were, he knew who their mums were. He knew whose dad was in prison. He knew who kids had had a really difficult time because their mum had been ill.

"He knew all sorts of things about the kids and actually he was a great role model."

Official data shows neighbourhood police and PCSO numbers were slashed by nearly 20,000 while the Tories were in power. In 2010 there were 16,918 PCSOs and 23,928 officers in neighbourhood roles.

By last year these numbers had dropped to 7,539 and 13,424 respectively. Speaking at Cambridgeshire Police's headquarters yesterday(THUR), Mr Starmer said the 3,000 new neighbourhood police pledge is the first step in the Government's promise to deliver 13,000 officers by 2029.

Mr Starmer said a "postcode lottery" means people in some parts of the country have been badly let down.

The PM said: “Under the last government, neighbourhood policing was decimated. It became a postcode lottery, where your address determined the level of service you get.

Flanked by officers, Mr Starmer said public faith in police had been dented by the lack of bobbies on the beat. "That must be soul destroying for you," he told them.

East Midlands

• Up to 35 additional neighbourhood police officers for Derbyshire Constabulary.

• Up to 35 additional neighbourhood police officers and 21 new PCSOs for

• Up to 49 additional neighbourhood police officers and 3 new PCSOs for

• Up to 30 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for

East of England

• Up to 30 additional neighbourhood police officers and 8 new PCSOs for

• Up to 30 additional neighbourhood police officers and 7 new PCSOs for Cambridgeshire Constabulary

• Up to 74 additional neighbourhood police officers for

• Up to 29 additional neighbourhood police officers and 11 new PCSOs for Hertfordshire Constabulary

• Up to 31 additional neighbourhood police officers for Norfolk Constabulary

• Up to 26 additional neighbourhood police officers for Suffolk Constabulary

London

• Up to 14 additional neighbourhood police officers City of London Police

• Up to 420 additional neighbourhood police officers and 50 new PCSOs for the Metropolitan Police

North East

• Up to 20 additional neighbourhood police officers and 31 new PCSOs for

• Up to 26 additional neighbourhood police officers for Durham Constabulary

• Up to 95 additional neighbourhood police officers and 27 new PCSOs for

North West

• Up to 48 additional neighbourhood police officers for Cheshire Constabulary

• Up to 26 additional neighbourhood police officers and 12 new PCSOs for Cumbria Constabulary

• Up to 176 additional neighbourhood police officers for Greater Police

• Up to 53 additional neighbourhood police officers and 30 new PCSOs for Lancashire Constabulary

• Up to 97 additional neighbourhood police officers for

South East

• Up to 65 additional neighbourhood police officers for Hampshire Constabulary

• Up to 65 additional neighbourhood police officers for

• Up to 25 additional neighbourhood police officers for

• Up to 43 additional neighbourhood police officers for

• Up to 68 additional neighbourhood police officers for

South West

• Up to 70 additional neighbourhood police officers for Avon & Somerset Police

• Up to 45 additional neighbourhood police officers and 55 new PCSOs for Devon & Cornwall Police

• Up to 40 additional neighbourhood police officers and 3 new PCSOs for

• Up to 23 additional neighbourhood police officers for Gloucestershire Police

• Up to 24 additional neighbourhood police officers for

Wales

• Up to 33 additional neighbourhood police officers for

• Up to 40 additional neighbourhood police officers and 13 new PCSOs for

• Up to 22 additional neighbourhood police officers and 15 new PCSOs for

• Up to 70 additional neighbourhood police officers for

West Midlands

• Up to 53 additional neighbourhood police officers for

• Up to 8 additional neighbourhood police officers and 10 new PCSOs for

• Up to 31 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for

• Up to 289 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for

Yorkshire

• Up to 38 additional neighbourhood police officers for

• Up to 32 additional neighbourhood police officers and 20 new PCSOs for

• Up to 56 additional neighbourhood police officers and 12 new PCSOs for

• Up to 100 additional neighbourhood police officers for

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