Police presence in Fallowfield has been cut by 23 per cent since 2010

Police cuts are expected to continue to at least 24 per cent by 2020

It has become commonplace to see posts from victims of crime in the Fallowfield Students Group warning other students to be careful of their surroundings.

Most notably, there have been numerous reports of students being mugged at knifepoint, having their homes broken into with bricks being thrown through windows, and even an attempted abduction just last week.

The increasing crime rate in the Fallowfield/Withington area is especially alarming as most of these crimes are clustered during term times suggesting that students are the primary targets of these attacks.

The increase in crime has also had a detrimental impact on the trust that students have in the police force around that that are meant to be protecting them.

Several months ago, The Tab Manchester conducted interviews with students asking them how safe they felt around Fallowfield and the response was "pretty depressing tbh."

But local Withington councillor, Rebecca Moore suggests that the increase and persistence in crimes in the area is not linked with the failure of police to care about the issues or deliberate inaction but rather, a result of funding cuts to the force which has fallen roughly 18 per cent since 2010 (taking inflation into account).

This number is expected to increase to at least 24 per cent by March 2020, as her tweet shows.

The Tab Manchester spoke to Rebecca Moore who said it's "Really worrying".

She added: "The only real solution is better police funding particularly for frontline staff so they can properly address crime and have a presence in the community."

Across England and Wales for 2018/19, 68 per cent of funding received by police forces is set to come from the central government and 32 per cent from local taxation.

With less funding from the central government, the local government is expected to raise the difference themselves. However, Greater Manchester consists of a rather poor tax base which doesn't make enough money to cover this difference nor sustain a raise in the council tax.

The result of these funding cuts has been a decrease in the police force which in turn, places great strains on the police force and inevitably leads to a decrease police presence on the streets. Thus, making it easier for criminals to commit crimes and get away with them.

This is even worse for places such as Greater Manchester which consists of deprived areas which in turn are more susceptible to outbreaks of violent crime.

Still the dramatic increase in crime is rather disturbing with a 53 per cent increase in robberies and a 31 per cent increase in sex crimes.