Copped Enough: thin blue line stretched to breaking, chair warns

2 May 2025

Dyfed Powys Police Federation chair Delme Rees warned the ‘thin blue line’ is stretched to breaking as he backed a campaign highlighting the crisis facing policing.

The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) has laid bare the issues for frontline officers as it starts its hard-hitting campaign Copped Enough: What the Police Take Home is Criminal.

The campaign was launched on International Workers’ Day yesterday (1 May) and aims to expose the pay crisis and rising dangers facing officers.

Underpaid

PFEW said that officers are underpaid, overworked, and under the threat of violence just for doing their jobs.

And it said thousands of officers are set to resign in the next few years, threatening public safety.

Delme said: “The thin blue line is being stretched thinner than ever and is close to breaking.

“In the past decade, our members have seen their pay cut in real terms by a fifth, the funding of policing slashed, and their workload soar.

 

 

“Many are using food banks, or struggling to pay their mortgage or rent.

“Morale is plummeting as they face increasing hostility on the streets, and a lack of support from within policing, government, and the public.

“They’ve Copped Enough and it’s time things changed.

“If things don’t change and the numbers of officers projected to retire do leave the service then it could become a full-blown national crisis with public safety threatened.”

The reality for officers:

• Nationally, 10,000 officers will resign every year by 2027 - forcing the government to spend £9.9 billion recruiting and training their replacements just to stand still.

• 35 per cent of police officers in England and Wales have five or less year’s experience today, a third more than in 2020.

• In Dyfed Powys, 19 per cent of officers intend to resign from the service within the next two years.

• Three-quarters of officers in Dyfed Powys admitted to experiencing feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety and similar difficulties in the last 12 months. 

The Copped Enough campaign calls for action in three areas:

1. Restore police pay

• Urgent and fully-funded pay restoration

• Introduce a ‘P-Factor’ allowance to reflect the unique demands and risks of policing

• A binding, independent pay review system, free from political interference 

2. Stop the exodus of experienced officers

• Develop retention packages for skilled officers

• Implement a national workforce strategy focused on experience, not just recruitment numbers

• Improve work-life balance with better parental leave, protected rest days, and career transition support 

3. Protect Frontline Officers

• Enforce tougher sentencing for those who assault police

• Centralised funding for police treatment centres, not out of police officer pockets

• Mandatory national recording of suicides and suicide attempts in the service, with dedicated mental health support

Delme urged the public to stand with police and their families by joining a digital picket line at www.polfed.org/campaigns/copped-enough

Communities

He said: “The irony is that the campaign is launched on May Day, which celebrates the right of every worker to fair pay and safer conditions. Every worker, it seems, other than police officers.

“But with many of our members considering taking their considerable skills and experience to other sectors, this must serve as a wake-up call for the Government, policy makers, and police leaders.

“You can’t hope to have safe, thriving communities without enough police. And we won’t have enough police if they are driven away by poor pay, poor care, and poor conditions.”

Dyfed Powys Police Federation stands united with the national campaign and calls on local MPs, chief officers, and community leaders to back police officers by delivering the fair pay and support they urgently need.