Crime and Anti-social Behaviour

• The Prime Minister has used a speech today to set out his vision for how Labour will step up the fight against crime and antisocial behaviour.

• We are stepping up the fight against crime and anti-social behaviour. The Tories refuse to protect frontline policing; and they would make it harder for the Police to use DNA to catch dangerous criminals.

• Crime is down by more than a third since 1997; there are nearly 17,000 more Police; and neighbourhood policing teams are in every area of the country, committed to spending 80 per cent of their time on the beat.

• But more needs to be done to give power to communities to fight back against Anti-Social Behaviour. We will speed up the process for applying for ASBOs, and take tougher action on people that breach their ASBO. We will also consider how to give victims of antisocial behaviour a means of redress if they are not getting the support they expect from the police or local authority.

• Reducing the fear of crime begins with a strong police presence on our streets, so we will challenge councils and police authorities to match the Government's commitment to frontline police - set out in the Pre-Budget Report.

• David Cameron talks Britain down by deliberately misleading the public about crime figures, even though his party has been censured by the Statistics Authority for doing this. The Conservatives have refused to rule out immediate, deep, and wide cuts to the police budget. They have campaigned against the use of CCTV, and they would make it harder for the Police to use DNA evidence to convict the most dangerous criminals.