Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, has branded the use of local police officers by prisons as ‘unfair’ in a recent letter to Ministers.
He has also recommended that financial compensation be given to local police authorities in areas where prisons are taking up a significant proportion of important community resources.
Concerns have been raised that the calls take essential manpower away from the surrounding area, which already receives a relatively low level of policing.
Staffordshire police have been called out to the three prisons in the constituency more than 120 times in the past 12 months. A total of 76 calls were made by HMP Featherstone and 43 from HMYOI Brinsford.
Gavin said: “I think it is unfair and just plain wrong that taxpayers in South Staffordshire have to pick up the cost of police attending incidents in the prisons. What I would like to see is the South Staffordshire taxpayer reimbursed and that money ploughed back into policing for South Staffordshire.
“Our resources are already thinly spread and I would like to see this money going towards getting more policemen in our villages, protecting residents, not policing criminals. This would be true justice.”