The Peter McCormack Show #130 - Peter Bleksley - The Government Has Surrendered the Streets
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Nov 21, 2025 
Peter Bleksley, a former undercover detective and crime author, dives deep into the alarming state of British policing. He highlights the collapse of public trust and the surge in crime, attributing these issues to bureaucracy overshadowing community policing. Bleksley critiques the abandonment of frontline officers and argues for a return to visible patrols. He also discusses the consequences of under-reporting crime, the normalization of petty theft, and the need for reform in police accountability and relationships with communities.
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Q&A At Metropolitan Police Event
- Peter Bleksley attended a Met event in his home borough and challenged senior officers about visibility and contactability.
- He asked for local police telephone numbers to rebuild trust and public reporting.
When Metrics Replaced Community Policing
- Academics and metrics pushed policing away from community beats toward measurable but unseen work.
- Bleksley argues this made policing abandon prevention and lose the intelligence gathered by neighbourhood officers.
Female Officers Confront Violence
- Peter McCormack described seeing two female officers sent to a violent boxing-match crowd and worrying about their safety.
- Bleksley responded with a real case where two female officers were seriously assaulted attending a house call.
