Blunkett 'obsessed' with crime initiatives

David Blunkett has introduced an astonishing 100-plus initiatives to fight crime since he became Home Secretary in June 2001, according to a dossier produced by the Conservatives.

But the remarkable number of bills, plans, schemes and proposals have so far failed to halt a rising tide in crime, said Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary.

Home Office statistics show an overall crime rise of 2 per cent in the year to September 2002 but with a 35 per cent leap in firearms offences, and increases of 5 per cent in burglaries and 13 per cent in robberies. The Tories claim at least a third of the much-vaunted initiatives are failing.

Mr Letwin said: "David Blunkett is obsessed with initiatives. He has now scored a century in his time as Home Secretary. This is even more than he managed as Education Secretary. Unfortunately, although the balls are flying thick and fast, the criminals are winning the Test match.

"The figures will continue to be dreadful until the Government produces a coherent long-term strategy to attack crime at its roots and get police visibly back on our streets."

The Tories are not alone in their concern at the number of initiatives. Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the Association of Probation Officers, said: "If you look back, the initiatives that have not worked have been the ones that have had screaming headlines – child curfew orders, parenting orders, anti-social behaviour orders.

"They are target-obsessed and it has now become part of the modernisation deal that you don't get any more resources or wages until you start hitting these targets. But they are all arbitrary."