Police chief calls for more cash to fight migrant crime despite official report claiming there isn't a problem
The surge of immigrants from eastern Europe has created "significant challenges" for the police and public services, a report by chief constables said today.
The Association of Chief Police Officers said the influx had not led to a "large scale crimewave", with migrants committing no more crimes than the British population.
But Cheshire Chief Constable Peter Fahy, who co-authored the report, said migration has had a "significant impact" on UK communities.
He added: "The influx of eastern Europeans has created pressures on forces in some areas, including local rumour and misunderstandings fuelling tensions which police have had to be proactive in resolving, and leading to significant increases in spending on interpreters, which can also make investigations more complex."
The report, which has not been released in full, comes only one day before Chief Constables meet Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to plead for extra cash to cope with the arrival of up to one million Eastern Europeans.
There is anger within the police service at the way Acpo has handled the issue, choosing to leak sections of the 14-page study to the left-wing Guardian newspaper.
The Guardian chose to focus almost exclusively on the positive benefits of immigration, and argue that the so-called "migrant crimewave" had been exposed as a myth.
Insiders stress the full Acpo report is balanced, and makes a strong case for extra funding.
But senior officers feel that - by allowing the impression that migration has caused little or no problems to gather momentum on the BBC and other news outlets - they will now be weakened in their talks with Miss Smith at the Home Office tomorrow.
One chief constable, Cambridgeshire's Julie Spence, was forced to publicly defend claims made last year migrants are causing significant local pressures.
She said: "The growth in our population has brought about significant policing challenges, not least the amount of time and effort we put into dealing with offenders whose first language is not English.
"Similarly, looking after victims and witnesses and managing community tensions is substantially more complex now than three years ago.
"We have seen an increase in specific offences such as motoring offences, sex trafficking, and worker exploitation - a form of modern- day slavery."
Alan Gordon, vice chairman of the Police Federation, said he expected Mrs Spence to be "spitting feathers" at the way Acpo appeared to have undermined her case.
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The study is based on police data from England and Wales, although the identity codes used only include "white European" to cover a wide range of nationalities.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Ms Smith described the report as "very helpful" in "getting the issues into proportion".
"When new people come into any community it can bring pressures, those changes need to be responded to, and I want to work with chief police officers to find the best way of doing that.
"That is why I think tomorrow's meeting will be very useful and today's report is a help towards that as wel
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