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Anti-social behaviour blights lives.
Persistent offending has a serious impact, making people feel unsafe in their own homes.
After neighbourhood policing has faced years of cutbacks, communities in Tameside and across the country are paying the price.
It should not be too much to ask that when something goes wrong, people can rely on someone turning up, with criminals facing the consequences of their actions.
But when it comes to community safety and tackling anti-social behaviour, too many people are having to put up with second best.
The lack of a visible policing presence is of real concern, with recent data showing that Community Support Officers in the North-West, a vital tool to tackle local anti-social behaviour, have been cut by 47% since 2015 with 2,300 fewer officers on our streets.
These problems are persistent across the system, with victims waiting years for justice because of backlogs in the courts, meaning too many crimes go unpunished.
The failure to tackle these issues, has meant that the basic right of safety and security in your home and community is not being met for millions of people.
It’s why I’m proud to back Labour’s new community policing guarantee, putting power back into the hands of local people.
A guarantee that will put police on the beat again, giving every community a named officer they can get in touch with.
There will be zero-tolerance of anti-social behaviour, giving police new powers to ban repeat offenders from town centres, and tackle public drink and drug use, with every local area having a dedicated anti-social behaviour lead.
Crucially, communities will be put back at the heart of policing, giving residents and businesses a say in how their areas are policed and ensuring police work with them on deciding local priorities.
It is only by delivering change on this scale, that we can ensure people across Tameside are safe in the knowledge that crime is being tackled and their concerns are being heard.
This is a change that is long overdue, with communities having been made to suffer for too long under a Conservative Party that has failed to take crime and anti-social behaviour seriously.
The next Labour government will be driven by the mission to take back our streets, giving police the resources, and local communities the voice, to say enough is enough.
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