I will recruit 750 more frontline police officers and staff to fight crime.

In my first year as Mayor, I will put over 250 more Police Officers on the frontline and over 70 police staff to support them, including call handlers and scenes of crimes officers, whilst maintaining our Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). 

During my three year term as Mayor, I will add at least 500 frontline officers and staff to support our communities against crime and anti-social behaviour, and I will ensure that the police receive the support they need to do their job.

I believe in policing by consent, and I will create a partnership with our communities, especially women, young people, and ethnic minorities. I will seek to ensure that our Police better reflect the communities they serve and will support them to go further in their excellent work to recruit more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic officers. I will work with the Police Force and others to look at how responses can be more victim-focussed. 

We must ensure people can access justice by supporting existing law centres and tasking the Co-operative Development and Community Wealth Building Unit with developing new centres where they don’t currently exist. With the Probation Services now coming in-house, there will be an opportunity to reduce the numbers of criminals who go on to reoffend after release.

We all know that anti-social behaviour blights communities, and I will make early intervention a priority, whether that’s supporting our Councils in their Early Years and Families offer, or funding community youth projects such as boxing, dance, music or drama clubs or youth centres such as CATCH through the Safer Community Fund paid for from the proceeds of crime.

The numbers of reported gun and knife crimes can not be allowed to rise and I will continue the excellent work of the Violence Reduction Unit.  

I will continiue the good work done by our previous Labour PCC to ensure the process of recording a sexual assault is as supportive as possible. Working with charities and partners, I will look into creating Sexual Assault Referral Clinics across West Yorkshire where women can report to Health Workers rather than at a police station.