Reform has appointed Colin Sutton, 64, as their Police and Crime adviser.

He served 30 years in the police service. His career included tracking down the serial killer Levi Bellfield and the “night stalker” Delroy Grant. It also included graduating in law.

He retired a few years ago, but submitted a thesis on the future of policing to Reform HQ. They were so impressed they offered him the role.

The thesis puts forward a ten point plan which he believes could halve crime during the five year term of the first Reform government.

More Police

During Theresa May’s tenure as Home Secretary, she reduced the police service by 20,000 officers and closed 700 police stations. The Metropolitan Police have recently announced plans to reduce the number of stations further, to just 20 across the whole of London.

Sutton’s plan includes hiring an extra 30,000 officers and re-opening 300 local police stations. He wants to shift focus away from policing online comments back to tackling the kinds of crimes that affect people the most deeply, such as burglary.

Better Policing

Sutton wants to focus on strong leadership  rather than woke ideology. He wants to significantly improve recruitment, dropping diversity, equality and inclusion posts.

He wants to review the roles of the Independent Office for Police Conduct and the role of police and crime commissioners.

Policing of the People By the People

He wants more face to face contact between the police and the public. he wants more officers on the beat as a visible presence. This should help re-build the trust that has broken down recently.

He wants the agenda and the priorities for the police to be steered by the public rather than self-appointed community leaders

More Stop and Search

Another legacy of the Theresa may era is that over the period 2014-2024, stop and search was reduced by around 50%, yet knife crime rose by over 50%. Based on the evidence of its effectiveness, and speaking to bereaved parents whose children were victims of knife crime he is a proponent of stop and search.

Review the Relationship between the Increase in Immigration and the Increase in Sexual Offences

“If you look at the figures, not just here, but the figures for Germany and Sweden, there is no doubt that there has been an explosion of sexual offences in those countries that coincides with their explosion in migration. So I think it’s certainly a conversation worth having.”