Police boss denies officers 'questioning arrests'

A police chief has refuted a claim that officers are questioning making arrests due to the overcrowded prison situation.

Labour councillor Sarah Russell claimed city officers had told her they did not see the point in making arrests due to their view criminals would be released shortly after, at a police, fire and crime panel meeting on Monday.

It comes as some prisoners are being released early to make room for those newly sentenced by the courts, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

On Tuesday Rob Nixon, Leicestershire Police's Chief Constable, said the work of the force had "not changed".

The Labour government made the decision to release prisoners early -implementing a policy drawn up by the previous government - with 1,700 prisoners released in September and a further 1,100 released in October.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said figures to show how many of those released had then been recalled to prison after breaking their conditions would be shared later in the year.

Russell, the city's deputy mayor for social care, health and community safety addressed Leicestershire's police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews at the meeting.

She said: "I just wondered about... the communications and whether your office is involved at all around communication out to the wider force, and whether you could seek to hold the chief constable to account around this in that certainly a lot of the feedback I get from officers on the ground is not necessarily a full understanding of the release scheme and a bit of sense of... 'well there isn't any point in arresting because they will only go into prison for two days and be released anyway'.

"I just worry about the messaging and what that means to our forces on the ground and their confidence to be able to carry out their roles appropriately."

Matthews said he understood police work to be "business as usual" having had meetings with Mr Nixon.

Mr Nixon said: "The work of Leicestershire Police has not changed since the prison early release scheme began. Protecting our communities across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland remains at the heart of everything we do.

"A vital part of our service is ensuring we deal with those who cause the most harm and so continuing to arrest people, where necessary, in order to carry out a full and detailed investigation remains very much part of our daily business."

A report outlining what has happened in the Leicester and Rutland policing region as part of the early release scheme, which was considered by the panel on Monday, said there had been "no significant increases in crime volumes caused by the early release scheme".

It also said the police commissioner's officer would use spare capacity to work with the probation service to signpost men aged under 25 to services to prevent a recall to prison, the LDRS said.

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