Over the last few months reports and headlines have stated that police ‘need to do more’ in respect of: Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking, Sexual Offences, Burglary, Knife Crime, Moped Crime, Fraud, County Lines, Grooming Gangs, Road Deaths, Anti-Social Behaviour, Rural Crime, etc, etc.
We now have a report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMICFRS) stating that the public has ‘rumbled’ the fact that police are struggling to investigate crime. This has been seized upon by sections of the media who have little time for police, yet there is, in fact, within the report some acknowledgement that police are having to cope with increased demand with less resources.
The Times front page. 7th February
It’s perhaps worth noting at this point that those habitual press critics even expressed ludicrous criticism of the surveillance operation which ultimately resulted in plain clothes officers shooting dead terrorist, Sudesh Amman. It would seem that not only should surveillance officers possess psychic powers and x-ray vision but an essential requisite of any surveillance operation is to stay with a step or two of the terror-target.
What the public have ‘rumbled’ is the fact that police are struggling to cope due to savage cuts which is why these cuts have only relatively recently become an election issue. Officers regard it as somewhat ironic that the head of the HMICFRS, Sir Tom Winsor, actually wrote the report at the behest of the then Prime Minister, David Cameron which stated that the police could ‘do more with less.’
The HMICFRS report and media accounts fail to mention that we are FOURTH FROM BOTTOM in the European ‘league’ re the police per population ratio.
Even with the restoration of the 20,000 ‘missing’ officers, as promised by the government, we will be a woeful sixth from bottom.
Estimates show that the amount of time front line police spend dealing with crime is around 20%. These officers state that much of their shift is spent dealing with shortcomings of other agencies, especially in respect of those with mental health issues.
Public surveys show that despite constant negative media headlines, the approval rating for police is around 76%.
Police also have to deal with the Crown Prosecution Service and a poor, now privatised forensic science service, both of which have also suffered cutbacks. Police are frequently denied the authority by the CPS to charge offenders. Even, of course, when offenders do appear before a court, the punishments are derisory.
Needless to say, there is huge anger, within all sections of the police community, in respect of both the HMICFRS report and the resultant headlines.