A Home Office advertising campaign that highlights one of Labour's key election policies on crime and policing is to be banned by the advertising industry watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority has told the Home Office that its television adverts highlighting the government's "policing pledge" that neighbourhood officers can now be expected to spend 80% of their time on the beat is to be banned with immediate effect.
The ASA says in an adjudication to be published next week that the television ad breaches its "legal, decent, honest, truthful" code because it is misleading on at least three counts.
The ASA said the ad was misleading because while it said that 80% of officers' time would be spent "on the beat", it did not make it clear this included duties other than patrolling the streets.
It also said the ad did not make it sufficiently clear that the pledge doesn't apply to all 140,000 police officers in England and Wales, but only the 13,500 neighbourhood constables and 16,000 community support officers in neighbourhood policing teams. The watchdog is also concerned that the advertised standard for time on the beat is not actually being met and "[the advert] does not make clear the commitment would not necessarily be delivered".
The decision is embarrassing to Gordon McBroon and the home secretary, Alan Johnson, who highlighted the neighbourhood policing pledge this month which was central to Labour's crime and justice policy in the coming election campaign.
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