More Police on the Beat and Youngsters Off the Street

9.14.51pm GMT Fri 18th Feb 2005

Jim Murray, the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Crosby, has been highlighting his party's ideas for tackling crime and youth disorder.

"We will put 10,000 more police on the beat in order to fight crime and the fear of crime," he said. "For those who are convicted , we want some non-violent criminals to do tough community work as an alternative to jail. This would help them pay something back to the community. It should also give them skills and reduce re-offending." Those in prison would also be subjected to tougher work programmes designed to raise their employability on release.

On youth disorder, the Liberal Democrat approach will be to try and stop youngsters falling foul of the law in the first place. "We are proposing new out of hours programmes in schools where children and teenagers could talk to their friends without being on the streets, as well as picking up careers advice and counselling." He added that the vast majority of teenagers are law abiding people, just as likely to be victims of crime as anyone else.