BRITAIN’S top cop has criticised Labour plans to slash jail time — saying police will struggle to cope with the surge in crime.
Met Police boss Sir Mark Rowley warned putting more criminals back on the street risked overwhelming officers.
AlamyLabour plans include scrapping most short sentences, releasing lags after a third of time served and monitoring with tags to free up cells[/caption]
He accused the Government of doing “no analysis whatsoever” on the impact of freeing thousands and risking the prospect of “generating a lot of work for police”.
He told the BBC: “Every time you put an offender into the community, a proportion of them will commit crime, a proportion of them will need chasing down by the police.”
But the Ministry of Justice hit back in the war of words, saying its top priority was to “keep people safe”.
Standing by its changes, it said: “That is why we are building prisons faster than at any time since the Victorian era and, through our sentencing reforms, we will make sure the public are never again put at risk of running out of prison places.”
Sources also insisted a full impact assessment on early release is under way.
The Sun revealed last week Sir Mark was among senior officers who wrote to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood questioning prison reforms.
Her plans include scrapping most short sentences, releasing lags after a third of time served and monitoring with tags to free up cells.
Sir Mark said: “If probation are going to spend more money on trying to reform offenders, reduce their repeat offending, that’s fantastic.
But a proportion will be committing further offences because probation can’t do a perfect job — it’s impossible.”
The Scotland Yard chief also said forces are still “carrying the scar tissue of years of austerity cuts”.
Met Police boss Sir Mark Rowley has criticised Labour’s plans to slash jail time2024 PA Media
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