is Morning - Crime Week

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Day one:

Alarming results of This Morning survey into British public's attitudes to crime

Holly and Phil interview a convicted paedophile

Home Secretary Theresa May responded to the alarming results of a specially commissioned This Morning survey to better understand what the British public think about crime on day one of the Crime Week strand.

Highlights of the findings from the The One Poll survey undertaken by 3000 people:

- More than 1 in 3 think crime levels are getting worse

- 70% believe there aren't enough police on the beat

- Nearly 3/4 of people don't believe police should carry guns

- 40% believe vigilantism can be justified

- 3/4 believe we should know if a paedophile lives nearby

- 65% believe paedophiles cant ever change

- 72% think prisoners get too many luxuries

- Nearly half of parents worry about who their children are speaking to on social media

More than one in three people think crime levels are getting worst

Theresa May: The figures do say that crime is falling but a lot of people are still worried about crime and that's why we need to address it I've been very clear, I've written to all Chief Constables I've said I want to make sure that Police are recording the crimes properly so that people can have confidence in these figures, I've asked the Inspectorate of the Police to look at this and they're doing a piece of work which is looking at it across forces.

70% think there aren't enough Police on the beat

Theresa May: What matters is not the absolute number of police you have, it's what you do with them, how you use them, are you making sure they're being as effective as possible in fighting crime? I'm doing my bit, I'm taking a lot of the red tape away from them, the bureaucracy, we're looking at some of the new technologies so they can actually spend more time on the beat and less time in the police station filling in forms.

Should Police carry guns? Survey results say nearly three quarters of people don't believe Police should carry guns

Theresa May: I don't think it's right and I think most police officers would say they wouldn't want to be regularly armed I think overall for the copper out there who's walking the streets, dealing [and] responding to crimes, actually they don't want to be armed and I don't think it's right for them to be armed.

40% believe vigilantism can be justified

Theresa May: I think it's important that we ensure that the relationship between the public and the Police is the right one so that the public feel they can turn to the Police it's important that we have the rule of law and I can understand people get concerned about what happens in their neighbourhood..

Three quarters of people believe we should know if a paedophile lives nearby and 65% of people believe paedophiles will never change

Theresa May: I know people feel hugely strongly about this but we do need to make sure that in an area the right action is being taken. You dont want to see someone finding their life being destroyed just because of a rumour going round. Thats why it's important people can have access to the right information through Sarah's Law and can go to the Police if they are worried about someone.

Nearly 50% of parents worry about who their children are speaking to online

Theresa May: We have been doing a lot on this already particularly on the question of child grooming and sexual images online and we have bought the various providers together and have talked to them about how willing they would be to take more content down when it is particularly damaging.

We are being quite successful. Maria Millar is going to bring them together again to look at the particular circumstances that led to Tallulah's [Wilson] death.

We are making progress - I am sure there is more we can do.

72% think prisoners get too many luxuries

Theresa May: [MP] Chris Grayling has been looking at this and he has been tightening up on what is available to prisoners and particularly when you get access to more luxuries - and he thinks it's not about bad behaviour but you have to work for it. So he has changed the regime.

See full results of the survey here

Also as part of Crime Week today Holly and Phil interviewed a convicted paedophile

John (not his real name) has been convicted twice of possessing indecent images of children. He agreed to talk to This Morning in order to highlight what he thinks is a lack of help for paedophiles, which he believes increases their chances of reoffending.

Investigative journalist and former policeman Mark Williams-Thomas - best known for exposing Jimmy Savile as a paedophile - also joined Holly and Phil for the interview.

John, 43, has taken measures to rehabilitate himself including no longer owning a computer, reducing the risk of him downloading illegal material again.

The interview which was pre-recorded and voiced-over by an actor to maintain Johns anonymity.

See the full interview here

LINK:	http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/morning-crime-week...
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