British police are doing a pretty good job

Both sides in British politics have an interest in overstating the level of crime. Neither narrative is correct.

Written by Noah Carl.

Both sides in British politics have an interest in overstating the level of crime.

The left wants to blame out-of-control crime on years of Tory austerity that cut police budgets to the bone. Or they want to blame it on mistrust of the police that’s rooted in “systemic racism”. Meanwhile, the right wants to blame out-of-control crime on mass immigration or woke policing. “They spend so much time policing social media they haven’t got time to solve burglaries,” it’s often claimed.

Neither narrative is correct. Judging on the best available data, the British police are doing a pretty good job. Not a perfect job, of course, but a pretty good one. There’s no evidence that crime is spiralling out-of-control due to Tory austerity, systemic racism, mass immigration or woke policing.