A prisoner escaping London hospitals twice in a week grabs the headlines. But the real story of law and order breaking down is happening in plain sight on every high street in England.

In 2010, public order offences barely registered in police statistics. They were the footnote crimes — a bit of shouting outside a pub, maybe some graffiti. Then austerity hit. Police numbers fell by 20,000. Community policing vanished. And slowly, steadily, Britain's streets became places where anything goes.

Take Avon and Somerset, covering Bath, Bristol and the surrounding areas. In the latest data, public order crimes make up more than one in ten of all recorded offences — 64 out of every 607 crimes reported to police (Source: Police UK, crime-avon-and-somerset).

That's not random. It's the direct result of a decade where we told police to do more with less, then acted surprised when social fabric started fraying. In 2012, public order barely made the top five crime categories. Now it sits firmly at number two, behind only violent crime.

The timeline tells the story. Pre-2010: community police knew every troublemaker by name. Post-2010: response policing only — turn up after the damage is done. 2020: COVID lockdowns create new flashpoints around mask-wearing and gathering restrictions. 2022: cost-of-living protests add fuel to existing tensions. 2024: public order offences become the new normal.

What changed? Police stopped preventing crime and started recording it. When you cut neighbourhood teams, you lose the officers who'd have a quiet word with the local yob before he became everyone's problem. When you slash council budgets, youth services disappear and street drinking becomes the entertainment.

The numbers show exactly where we are now. Violent crime dominates with 286 offences, but public order sits right behind it at 64 — ahead of criminal damage, theft, even shoplifting. This isn't about serious organised crime. It's about basic civility breaking down.

And Avon and Somerset isn't unique. Across England, public order offences have climbed steadily while politicians argue about knife crime statistics and immigration. The boring, everyday lawlessness gets ignored because it doesn't fit anyone's narrative.

Here's what the data actually shows: Britain hasn't just got more violent, it's got more chaotic. We've created a country where 10.5% of all police time goes on dealing with behaviour that would have been unthinkable in a functioning society.

The prisoner who escaped twice made headlines because it was dramatic. But the 64 public order incidents in one police area in one month? That's just Tuesday in modern Britain.