Smith discusses migrant crime impact

Home secretary Jacqui Smith is meeting with chief constables to discuss immigration and crime.

The Association of Chief Police Officers will present the findings of a report, widely leaked in Wednesday's press, on the impact of immigration on policing.

It showed that the surge of immigrants from Eastern Europe to the UK had created "new demands" on forces, but had not led to a "large scale crime wave".

Co-author and Cheshire chief constable Peter Fahy said: "Migration has had a significant impact on UK communities in past years but while this has led to new demands made on the police service, the evidence does not support theories of a large scale crime wave generated through migration.

"In fact, crime has been falling across the country over the past year.

"Cultural differences, such as attitudes to offences like drink driving may exist, but can be exaggerated.

"The influx of eastern Europeans has created pressures on forces in some areas, including local rumour and misunderstandings fuelling tensions which police have had to be proactive in resolving, and leading to significant increases in spending on interpreters, which can also make investigations more complex."

The report also showed police were being denied access to intelligence data about suspected eastern European criminals in Britain, because countries such as Poland refused to pass on information on criminal databases.

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