Star comment: Courts hold the answer to reversing crimewave

One of the first duties of those in public office is to maintain law and order, yet the rising tide of theft, thuggery and violence shows they are failing the people they are meant to serve.

And instead of renewing their efforts to tackle this growing crisis, there seems to be too many who are intent on playing the blame game.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson is insistent that the spike in crime is down to successive years of Government cuts to police budgets, a theme that is backed by some senior officers and Labour MPs.

Let us not forget however, that Mr Jamieson is a former Labour MP. It could be argued that for him, blaming the Conservative administration is an easy get out.

The mantra of laying the fault for everything on so called ‘Tory cuts’ is wearing a bit thin.

The price is being paid by decent, hard-working citizens. These are the people who are having their property stolen, their children attacked and their property damaged by mindless vandalism.

In response, all they are seeing is hand-wringing and self-pity from those tasked with keeping them safe. This simply will not do.

In times of austerity, money is tight for our public services. And undoubtedly West Midlands Police has been stretched by recent terror attacks. It is equally certain that central government cuts are playing a part.

However, the question must be asked as to why the current administration is in such a predicament. The answer lies largely with the previous Labour Government’s spendthrift ways, which could easily have bankrupted the country.

Anyone who seriously thinks Jeremy Corbyn could wave a magic wand and solve the problems is deluded, particularly given some of his more extreme views on our police and security services in the past.

The stringent financial policies that have been applied by the Conservatives may leave a bitter taste, but they have been necessary given the terrible mess the party inherited in 2010.

None of which fully absolves senior figures at the top of West Midlands Police. In fairness, chief constable Dave Thompson has only been in post for 18 months, and as such has had little time to put his mark on the organisation. But the time for strong and decisive action is now.

But these damning figures must be turned around.

Mr Jamieson must also step up to the plate and show that his role is not simply a non-job that drains precious funds from the public purse with little real impact.

It goes without saying that the rank and file officers have nothing but our huge admiration and respect for their dedication in extremely difficult circumstances.

The key to solving the problem here is a familiar theme.

Given their often thankless task, officers must despair at the nonsense that passes for criminal justice in 2017.

Day in, day out, this newspaper reports on light sentences being passed down by our courts to habitual criminals and violent offenders.

Our criminal justice system needs an overhaul.

Mandatory sentences for knife crime, persistent offenders and ‘career criminals’ must be introduced to produce some sort of deterrent.

Discipline and order must be brought back to our prisons and, if necessary, more should be built.

This would create employment, capital investment and – most importantly – remove the worst elements of society from our streets.

The only person that can instigate that is Theresa May.

It is time for her to stop acting like a rabbit in the headlights and provide the leadership this country needs.