Lib Dem approach to tackling local crime and disorder hailed by Labour Home Secretary

10.50.00am GMT Mon 16th Nov 2009

Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for Newcastle East Greg Stone has welcomed a warm endorsement from the Home Secretary of the way in which the Lib Dem run city council, Northumbria Police, and local communities are working together to reduce crime and disorder in the city. Evidence shows that the SNAPS (Safe Neighbourhoods Action & Problem Solving) approach is reducing crime and fear of crime in Newcastle, outstripping other areas of the country and has been awarded "exemplar status" by the National Police Improvement Agency.

On a visit to Newcastle last Friday, when he went out on the beat with local police and Lib Dem councillors, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said "The statistics here are remarkable and it seems in the North East you not only talk the talk about working together in partnership, but you walk the walk as well. This is transformational stuff. What they have been doing here is the model we would like to see everywhere."

Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman Greg Stone said "It is very welcome that the innovative and successful work we are doing in Newcastle to ensure communities are safe, and crime and disorder are tackled effectively, has been recognised by a senior Cabinet minister. Labour in Newcastle are fond of launching cheap attacks on the Lib Dems that they are "soft on crime" - but we have always favoured methods that are "effective on crime" rather than empty rhetoric. Now it seems that even top Labour ministers agree that the Lib Dem approach is effective and should be adopted elsewhere. "