Your Voice, Your Vote: 'Crime is our priority for politicians'

Drug dealing and anti-social behaviour in Luton has made 'Angie' feel she needs to leave town

Angie – not her real name – is too afraid of being targeted to speak openly about the crime she sees in Luton.

She was waiting at some traffic lights recently when two people crossed the road in front of her.

"As they passed each other, a package was exchanged," she said.

"I’ve seen drug dealing in parks and alleyways. There are always cars with their engines running. It’s clear what’s happening."

In April, police in Luton had 275 reports of anti-social behaviour, and officers conducting 'stop and search' found 103 people carrying drugs, and 19 with weapons.

Some voters believe more investment in youth services would help to cut crime

Angie said the situation has been so overwhelming for her that, at times, she has had to leave town.

"I’ve rented a house in Bedford. I’ve booked hotels in Milton Keynes. Sometimes I just need a bolt hole. There are nights when the fireworks never seem to stop."

She is among those who contacted Your Voice, Your Vote calling for more action on street crime, and for more investment in “things for young people to do so they have an alternative to gangs”.

YMCA youth workers, Jemima, Tayler and Ibrahim say young people "need to feel listened to"

Council-funded youth services have been scaled back over the past decade. Services do still exist but many are now funded by police forces, or charities.

The YMCA has just opened three new youth clubs in Milton Keynes. Community manager Tayler Tookey said: "Young people need to feel listened to. They need a sense of belonging and to feel like they're in control sometimes.

"If those emotional needs are not being met, they may look for it in less legitimate places.

"Here, the young people decide what activities they want to do and our support workers encourage them to achieve. It's somewhere safe and fun for any 11-18 year-old to go. We're working hard to plug the gap and we'd always welcome more funding."

Parents have contacted Your Voice, Your Vote calling for knife crime to be a top political priority

'Epidemic that needs sorting'

Knife crime is also a big concern for voters. Chris Martin, 34, believes it is an "epidemic that needs sorting".

He lives in Milton Keynes and has a two-year-old and a six-year-old.

"I fear for my children's future," he said. "People are getting stabbed over nothing. Children as young as 12 are carrying knives. There has to be a deterrent."

Abigail Skinner wants less talk and more action on crime

Abigail Skinner from Baldock in Hertfordshire called knife crime “a growing nightmare”.

She said: "We seem to live in a world where no-one dares to challenge this behaviour anymore. Surely this is more important to tackle than banning under-16s from buying energy drinks but I’ve heard nothing from the parties about it."

A ban on zombie-style knives will come into force in the Autumn, but how else are politicians promising to tackle these issues? This is what the parties say they would do.

Conservatives:

• Give every neighbourhood an additional police officer by recruiting 8,000 more police

• New technology and powers to seize knives and recover stolen property

• Funding for all forces to provide hot-spot policing to reduce anti-social behaviour

• Tougher sentences for knife crime, grooming gangs, assaults against retail workers, domestic murder

Labour:

• Recruit thousands of extra officers for neighbourhood policing so each community has a named officer to turn to

• Develop a Young Futures Programme to stop young people being drawn into crime

• Respect orders to ban persistent adult offenders from town centres

• Every young person who carries a knife to be referred to a youth offending team and a new law to target gangs

Lib Dems:

• Return to "proper community policing" and a training and retention strategy to reduce the shortage of detectives

• Invest in "genuinely engaging" youth services and adopt a public health approach to youth crime to identify the risk factors

• Develop a statutory youth crime diversion plan for under 25s

• All burglaries to be attended and investigated by police

Reform UK:

• Recruit 40,000 new officers and increase the use of "stop and search"

• Prison sentence for all violent crimes and carrying a knife

• Mandatory life sentence for drug dealing and trafficking

• Reopen High Intensity Training Camps for young offenders to teach basic education, teamwork and values

Greens:

• Prevent crime by restoring funding to youth services and through community policing

• Every school and sixth form college to have a paid, trained counsellor