Standards and performance in policing must urgently be restored

Editorial: The police, like so many sectors, are short of experienced, skilled staff. This is a direct result of the decision by the Conservative-led coalition government a decade ago to make 23,000 such officers redundant

A police officer lays flowers on Tuesday near the scene in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, where nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was fatally shot (PA)

Rather like police work itself, the job of fixing Britain’s troubled constabularies is a nitty-gritty business. Although the hysteria about a “crime wave” is exaggerated, there is legitimate public concern about the resurgence in knife crime, some especially appalling incidents involving firearms, notably the killing of Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool, and isolated cases of the looting of shops, whether in the West End of London or a branch of McDonald’s in Nottingham.

The ubiquitous smartphone and the rise of social media, and some irresponsible media commentary, can easily create an absurdist image of “lawless Britain”, but that does not mean that there is any room for complacency.

As ever, the victims of crime are disproportionately drawn from the poorest sections of society, living side by side with the perpetrators. Indeed, that very proximity adds to the sense of intimidation that, in turn, has fostered a “no grass” culture in some communities (often reinforced by historic suspicion among minority ethnic communities).