Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) has re-committed to hiring Police Community Support Officers after a withdrawal of local policing by Westminster politicians has led to a doubling of crime and spate of high-profile ram raids across Uttlesford district.

R4U’s Cllr Paul Fairhurst, who is also Saffron Walden Mayor, said “Enough is enough. Brazen criminals are now mocking the inability of our cash-strapped police to do their job. After last week’s bank raid in Saffron Walden it was reported that the criminals even chained gates to slow the police; and to commit their crime they allegedly stole a digger from the building company currently turning the old Police Station site in to luxury homes. This state of lawlessness is a direct result of front-line policing cuts forced though by Westminster politicians. Criminals know they can ram-raid, steal, and burgle our homes, shops and business unhindered.”

“The old Police Station was a local asset used to protect and serve our community. It is unacceptable to residents that proceeds of the £2.2millon sale were siphoned off by the political Police Commissioner to be used outside of Uttlesford. That could have funded local police officers for a decade or more. Why do they continue to fail to put residents and our police first?”

“We are facing an unpresented crime wave. Crime has more than doubled since the retreat of most of the night-time policing to Braintree – and shockingly we’re paying them more Council tax for this failure. In the last 6 weeks alone there have been ram-raids at the Co-op in Stansted, Aldi and the Leisure Centre in Saffron Walden. And village Facebook groups are awash with concerns from residents who constantly see white vans prowling their communities.”

“Westminster political parties, their policies, and their Police Commissioner stooges are clearly not working for us. Residents demand a change to local policing and until then, wherever residents have elected R4U councillors, we’re championing locally funded Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) on our streets, as we have in Saffron Walden, Newport, Elsenham and Henham.”