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Sir Mark said getting drawn in to political causes, even supposedly popular ones like gay rights, could be \u201cfatal\u201d for policing.<\/p>\n
He told the Telegraph: \u201cWearing a poppy in the autumn is perfectly proper, but there is not a lot that we should align to because the danger is that once you say, \u2018we are going to align ourselves to a cause because 90 percent of the population support it\u2019, what about the 10 percent?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you start having environmental and other subjects there are lots of people in the organisation who will personally support those causes and that is OK, but the Metropolitan Police explicitly supporting them is quite tricky. I\u2019m fairly narrow-minded on this. There are very few causes policing should be attached to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong> We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n Mr Sunak made the comments while visiting a police force alongside the Government\u2019s new crackdown on so-called \u201cZombie knives\u201d – deadly machetes whose manufacturers have been dodging current laws.<\/p>\n He reiterated: \u201cPolice officers like the ones I\u2019ve spoken to today are focussing on catching criminals, whether that\u2019s tackling people who are committing thefts and burglaries, whether that\u2019s people who are doing antisocial behaviour, or indeed whether it\u2019s serious violence like knife crime.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve announced new laws today that will give the police more power to tackle knife crime, which we are reducing but of course we need to do more because it\u2019s an awful crime.\u201d<\/p>\n Sellers of \u201czombie\u201d knives will now face two years in jail, as knives with no practical purpose but are designed to look threatening will become illegal to sell or own.<\/p>\n The Home Office has also said that a new criminal offence of possessing bladed weapons with intent to endanger life or intimidate people will be created.<\/p>\n While serrated zombie knives were legislated against in 2016, the law only covered weapons with threatening words or images on the blade or handle, meaning manufacturers of the deadly weapons were able to take the words or images off and continue selling them.<\/p>\n Knife crime is up 34 percent on 2010, and accounts for 39 percent of homicides.<\/p>\n Police will also be given powers to seize weapons from people\u2019s homes if they have reasonable grounds to believe they will be used in a serious crime, a power officers previously did not have.<\/p>\n Policing minister Chris Philip said: \u201cZombie-style knives and machetes serve no other purpose but to inflate criminal egos and endanger lives. There is no reason to own these types of weapons. That is why we are banning these knives and making sentencing more severe, so our communities can be reassured that this violent criminality will face the punishments they deserve\u201d.<\/p>\n
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