GMB: Richard Madeley grills Sadiq Khan on policing
The Good Morning Britain host challenged Sadiq Khan on the quality of policing in the capital as he suggested "root and branch reform" on police forces and a return to officers patrolling the streets. Responding to Richard Madeley, the London mayor agreed cuts have seen a decline in police officers but urged the ITVÂ host not to look through "rose-tinted glasses" at previous decades.
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"I don't often feel confident that I'm speaking for Briain on this programme because I'm speaking for myself, but I think I am speaking for Britain when I say this," Richard argued.
"Virtually every person in this country when they consider their policing wherever they are - Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Scotland, you name it - they want to see more policemen.
"They want to see more policemen patrolling on foot and having access, not zooming past with blue lights flashing which I usually the only time we see a policeman.
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"They want burglaries investigated and crimes solved and they want cars that are stolen found and returned - none of those things have been happening and it's getting worse."
The 65-year-old asked: "Do you agree that we need a root and branch reform of the way that we police ourselves in this country and a return to the standards of maybe 30 or 40 years ago?"
Khan responded: "You need to be careful looking through rose-tinted glasses about the standards of 30, 40 years ago, because if you're somebody of my colour or Susanna's sex and gender, things weren't great 20, 30 years ago."
He continued: "But I think your basic point is a good one, we want to see more police officers - men and women, across the country, all cities, all villages, all towns.
"For the last 11 years, Richard, we've seen massive cuts in police numbers, more than 21,000 and that's leading to - across the country - violent crime going up, burglaries going up, robberies going up."