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The UK’s police and crime minister Dame Diana Johnson had her purse stolen at an annual conference for senior police officers on Tuesday.
Johnson gave a speech to the Police Superintendents’ Association conference in which she warned of an “epidemic of antisocial behaviour, theft and shoplifting” that the Labour government had inherited from the Conservatives.
Warwickshire Police said it had arrested a 56-year-old man in connection with the theft of a purse at the four-star hotel outside Kenilworth in the Midlands where the policing conference was held.
The man was arrested on suspicion of burglary and has been released on bail, the police force added.
The Home Office confirmed that Johnson had her belongings stolen at the conference and said that no security risks had been identified. The department declined to comment further. The PSA declined to comment.
The theft came on the same day that the government began releasing some prisoners early to deal with jail overcrowding in England and Wales. The strains on the criminal justice system have been worsened by an outbreak of rioting in August.
PSA president Nick Smart, in his address to the conference, decried “chronic under-investment” in policing in recent years that he said had left forces “financially drowning” and “operating on a shoestring”.
He criticised the handling of overcrowding in prisons and prisoner releases, saying police officers faced “the prospect of arresting offenders who can then not be placed in prison, and dealing with the fallout from the thousands of criminals being released early today, many potentially without proper rehabilitation and release plans”.
After the conference, Johnson said in a post on X that it had been a “pleasure to speak” at the conference and thanked officers for their “tireless efforts” during the summer riots.
The minister for policing, fire and crime prevention did not mention the theft in the post.
According to the College of Policing, a professional body, superintendents “lead a large and/or complex area of command within forces” and “contribute to the development of culture, climate and working processes in their area to ensure adherence to standards”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed ahead of the July 4 general election that “if Labour takes power, we won’t stand by while crime takes over our streets”. He has promised to hire 3,000 new officers and 4,000 police community support officers.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated that there were 2.7mn incidents of theft in the year ending September 2023, a similar number to the year before but down 19 per cent compared with pre-pandemic levels.