“Police Officers want to see the public served well by them and their force. It’s an unfortunate reality though that it’s just not possible.”
29 August 2023
Police must investigate every theft and follow all reasonable leads to catch offenders, the Home Secretary has said.
But The City of London Police Federation has highlighted how colleagues are already overrun and overstretched.
And this headline grabbing announcement is simply ridiculous.
Mike Reed, Chair of The City of London Police Federation, said: "The Government are not the only ones who would like to see all crimes that have a reasonable line of enquiry investigated… police officers would love to come to work and do just that.
“Police Officers want to see the public served well by them and their force. It’s an unfortunate reality though that it’s just not possible.
“From 2010 the Government systematically reduced and hindered the ability of policing to serve the very people the Government are elected to protect - by reducing numbers of police (and staff) in an ever changing and more complex world of crime fighting.
“‘Do more with less’ was the mantra rolled out, the high scorer in a PDR, the winning question on a promotion panel, it was ingrained into policing and accepted as the way forward… even though it didn't take a genius to know it could only go so far before it damaged service delivery.
“And that it did.
“And then the uplift was fan-fared as policing a silver bullet to the crisis caused by the very people that want us to believe they are putting it right! If policing or those in it ever thought 20,000 'extra' cops wouldn't come with a price attached to it, they were naive. And here we have it: 'do the unreasonable with the few extra we have given you'.”
Mike added: “The City was always a force that did investigate crime both actively and to the point when all 'reasonable lines of enquiry had been exhausted'. Shrinking numbers and quick wins saw it move away from that locally. Nationally as a lead force for economic crime and cyber we see massive numbers of crimes reported with small percentages even assigned for investigation.
“The only number smaller is the TWO percent of officers assigned national to these types of crimes, despite the risk to the economy and more so the vulnerable members of public that lose out to this type of crime, where perpetrators act with almost no fear of apprehension.
“Taking the police back to 2010 numbers is not making it match fit for today’s crime environment, it's tying a hand behind its back and asking it to outperform its own abilities.
“It's time for the Government to get real, if they want to provide the service most cops want to give then fund it and trust those in it to manage it.
“A crisis in trust in policing isn't going to solve itself with political sound bites to only let those that depend on the services given by cops down further with unrealistic promises.”
Steve Hartshorn, national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said officers were "stretched beyond human limits" and he was not sure how much additional pressure forces could withstand.
He said: "Undoubtedly each and every police officer in the country wants to provide par excellence service to the members of the communities they diligently serve and protect.
"But, unfortunately, headline grabbing announcements by the government will not help officers provide that service. It can only be done if the government provides adequate resources to officers and makes sustained investment in the police service."
The National Police Chiefs’ Council reminded the Home Secretary in an Open Letter that Chief Officers “have operational independence and are responsible for making difficult decisions around how best to respond to the breadth of priorities of local communities.”
It added that the recruitment of 20,000 police officers “has been welcomed by every force across England and Wales.”
Although it added: “The reality is that since 2010, the number of officers has increased by just 2.6%, while recorded crime has increased by 25%.”
