I asked people in Birmingham if the city needed more police on the streets?

Stories of serious crime plague the news across Birmingham. Street crime involving gangs of youngsters have resulted in the tragic deaths of many youths over recent years. I’m here in Birmingham City Centre to find out from people whether they believe we need more police officers patrolling the streets.

Data shows that Birmingham is the second most dangerous city across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a crime rate 79% higher than the national average with no clear projection of decreasing.

The most common crimes are of a violent or sexual nature which have increased by 38% since 2020. A police presence may be a deterrent for many criminals but what can our society do to stop people’s will to commit crimes in the first place? This is another question that I posed to the public.

Des says: “Yes, I’m a firm believer the only way you’re going to bring crime down is to get more bobbies on the beat. I grew up in Lozells. And I remember I went to the Boy Scouts one evening, and I was late coming home.

“It was nine o’clock at night. And I was coming home on my own. And these two Bobby’s  - because in those days you had beat bobby’s - approached me. What are you doing out at nine o’clock?

“I told him I was a scout and I’m a bit late. He said, O’Connor isn’t it? I said, yeah. You shouldn’t be out, get off home! Yeah, look, he knew my name, had a polite word with me, told me to get off to get off home,  you know. Yeah, I’m all for beat bobby’s. It’s the way forward.”

Sarah says: “I think in general, the police in Birmingham do a fantastic job. Sometimes late at night, their presence, you almost feel like there’s a police person on every corner - pretty much.

“It’s difficult when there’s less Neighbourhood Policing, when you’re out in the suburbs, you maybe don’t see quite as many policemen. And that’s probably where I’d like to see more police.”

Ian says: “As I was brought up, and it is going back a bit now when I was at school, and then going to Sunday school and those sorts of things. You were brought up with moral values, good moral values.

“And I think there’s a lot of that missing in today’s society. It might sound old-fashioned, old hat. But I think there’s a place for the old moral stories. They could be Bible stories. They could be anything with a story.”

Des says: “Well, I think a lot of it’s down to politics and the economy. Yeah, people got no money -  they can’t pay the heating. They can’t support the family. Of course crime is wrong but you listen to some people’s story.

“Shoplifting - because he wants to feed his family. You know, I can understand where they’re coming from, even though it’s wrong. I’m not agreeing with them, but it’s the economy - the government needs to sort the economy out.”