“Residents aren’t daft” says Police and Crime Commissioner

“Reform clearly want to strike fear into the public”, says Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dan Price, after weeks of negative campaigning by Reform – nationally and locally – blaming asylum seekers for everything from sexual violence to shoplifting and potholes.

“I see what they’re doing, and residents see it too. People in Cheshire aren’t daft,” says Labour’s Dan Price, who was elected as the voice of public safety for Cheshire in May 2024, with more than 86,000 votes.
Cheshire residents have been contacting the PCC for weeks now, asking him to call out Reform’s tactics on crime stats and to set the record straight. Residents say they suspect that Reform are creating an atmosphere of fear and protest this summer for their own political gain.
Dan Price said: “Reform MPs recently voted against the Crime and Policing Bill , as well as the Borders and Immigration Bill. These are the new laws that will tackle sexual violence, shoplifting, make our streets safer, and control our borders – all the things they say they want to fix. They must take the public for fools.”
“Every morning, I receive a confidential briefing from Cheshire Police which shows that attacks by strangers here in Cheshire are rare. The overwhelming majority of violence reported here against women and girls is either domestic or historic.
“The sad reality is that women are far more likely to be attacked in their own home by someone they know. That makes up 19% of our crime here in Cheshire and I’m working hard to tackle that through a multi-agency approach.”
“Of course, crimes do happen here, it’s why we have a criminal justice system and types of crime can fluctuate very quickly. But all reports are taken seriously by our police in Cheshire.  Far from being ‘Lawless’- Cheshire is the safest county in the North West and one of the safest in the UK. Overall crime across the UK is falling and in Cheshire it has been for the 3rd year on the bounce.”

The UK Government recently launched a national Safer Streets Summer initiative across all police forces to create local visible policing. Anyone can look up what’s happening in their area by visiting the hashtag #saferstreetssummer on social media.
Dan Price said: “It feels like everyone, except Reform, is working hard to prevent the kind of unrest we saw last summer. That means it’s on all of us to do the right thing and call this ‘Lawless’ campaign what it is – propaganda.”
If you witness crime, please report it using 101, 999 or online. Residents can also report crime anonymously via Crimestoppers.