Latest news with #BenJulianHarrington
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Essex Police chief worried about early prisoner release plan
A senior police officer admitted he was worried about government plans to release prisoners from custody inmates in England and Wales could be eligible for release after serving a third of their sentence under proposed Harrington, chief constable of Essex Police, said it would heap pressure on his officers and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it would increase annual probation funding by up to £700m by 2029 to meet demand. The reforms, proposed in an independent sentencing review, said more offenders should be managed in the community rather than in year, thousands of inmates were released early in an emergency measure to deal with prison overcrowding. Essex Police manages about 3,000 offenders, of whom 2,100 are registered sex Harrington told the BBC he was not sure how many prisoners could be released early in the county."When people are in the community, we've got to look after them," he said."Where they reoffend, where they break the law, where they ignore that opportunity and cause hurt, then we have to deal with it."He added: "It does worry me because it puts extra demand on my officers and staff."The police chief also feared the impact the plans could have on victims if a person was released and said: "How do the victims of these crimes feel when someone who may have committed a violent crime and given three years in prison is released on parole, and then they breach that licence?"If I was a victim of crime, I'd be worried about that." The government commissioned the Independent Sentencing Review to look into the causes of the prison overcrowding the report released on 22 May, former Lord Chancellor David Gauke warned "we cannot build our way out of" the situation and creating extra prisons would not be enough.A MoJ spokeswoman said: "The first job of any government is to keep people safe."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."She said further investment in the Probation Service would help authorities tag and monitor "tens of thousands more" offenders. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Essex Police reshuffle creates more neighbourhood officers
A police chief said reshuffling his officers would help them tackle drug dealers and Police reprioritised 74 officers into dedicated neighbourhood teams across the county on decision came in response to a government pledge of having more visible Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said: "They can help solve problems, they understand the issues and they're reducing crime." Launching the reshuffle in Basildon, Mr Harrington vowed: "I know they will make a real difference."Neighbourhood officers, of which Essex already has more than 3,300, are tasked with reducing criminal anti-social behaviour, enforcing orders and targeting repeat also work with councils and investigate robberies, drug dealing, sexual offences, shoplifting and vehicle crime. Mr Harrington said: "They will tackle the issues that communities need them to tackle. "Sometimes that'll be in full glaring view of the public, sometimes that'll be watching out of the corner of their eye to catch someone who doesn't want to be caught." 'Difficult challenges' But the senior officer, who assumed the post in 2018, wanted assurances from the government that his force would be "fairly funded" to keep police on the force almost axed all 99 of its community support officers in January, before reversing that decision when it received £100m funding from the it did have to cut about 65 staff Harrington echoed his long-held complaint that Essex Police needed more money, revealing it faced an estimated £20m budget gap next year."With that money we can do more, it will make a difference," he said. "Without it, I'm faced with difficult challenges."A Home Office spokesman previously said the force's funding for 2025-26 was £431.1m, which was £24.9m more than in added: "We are ensuring we deliver on our safer streets mission, with an extra 13,000 neighbourhood police officers, community support officers and special constables, all of whom will play a vital role in bringing visible policing to our streets." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
