Back our police - MP launches petition calling for more officers for the South Lakes

Local MP Tim Farron has launched a petition demanding more front-line officers for the South Lakes.

The call comes after the deputy chief constable of Cumbria Police, Mark Webster, confirmed during a meeting of Cumbria County Council that there were only eight visible police officers on patrol for the whole of the South Lakes at any one time.

Earlier this year, Tim joined local officers in the South Lakes for an 11-and-a-half-hour shift. He learned that on average there is only around six officers on call during a shift to cover the entire constituency. This is in stark contrast to the start of the decade when there'd be six officers covering just Windermere and Ambleside.

Tim's petition calls for there to be no fewer than 20 uniformed officers covering the South Lakes at any one time.

Last year Cumbria saw a 27% increase in crime - the third biggest increase in the country.

Meanwhile recent figures from Cumbria Police show that there has been a sharp rise in the number of officers in the county taking time off because of anxiety, depression or stress, from 62 in 2015 to 112 in 2018.

Tim said: "The huge surge in crime in our area is deeply worrying.

"Our local police officers do a brilliant job in keeping us safe and I witnessed that first hand when I spent the day out with them.

"But there simply aren't enough of them.

"The current levels of officers covering our area is dangerous, and for the sake of the safety of both the public and our police we desperately need more front-line officers.

"But the sad truth is that the Conservatives are too busy fighting each other to concentrate on fixing the enormous damage they've done to our police.

"We deserve better than this."