Labour to promise more neighbourhood police officers ‘like Catherine Cawood’

‘Catherine Cawood may be fiction. But the stories of police officers like Catherine who know their communities are very real,’ Cooper will say. Photograph: Matt Squire/BBC/Lookout Point

Labour will pledge to restore thousands of community officers such as Happy Valley’s Catherine Cawood, saying the local knowledge to tackle antisocial behaviour, violence against women and gang culture has been lost under the Tories.

Citing the BBC character as an inspiration, Yvette Cooper will say the Conservatives have “walked away” from community policing and taken a “laissez-faire approach” to vetting and police recruitment.