“The blame for any poor police service lies squarely at the Government’s door. It is not the fault of my hard working colleagues"

7 February 2020

Nonsense of HMICFRS report: “We were cut by 21,000+ police officers and yet those police officers who remain are being asked to do more and more. We need to be properly resourced.

Steve Taylor, Chairman of Essex Police Federation, reacts to HMIC report “Noticeable differences between police and the service they provide” which has led to headlines this morning such as “Failing police 'rumbled' by weary public” and “Crimes not reported' as public lose confidence in police”

Steve said: “I have to ask where this report has come from. The Police Federation have consistently warned that Cuts Have Consequences in a campaign started by Essex Police Federation.

“The blame for any poor police service lies squarely at the Government’s door. It is not the fault of my hard working colleagues

“We were cut by 21,000+ police officers and yet those police officers who remain are being asked to do more and more. We need to be properly resourced. Give us the correct tools to do the job and we will do it.”

See the full HMICFRS report here https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/news/news-feed/noticeable-differences-between-police-and-the-service-they-provide/

In the report, HMIC Matt Parr said the public had "rumbled" that the police do not have the capacity to deal with common crimes, such as burglaries or car crime, and have given up reporting incidents to police.

"I think particularly in the volume crime area the public has rumbled that the police capacity to deal with this is extremely limited."

Mr Parr added: "There are some strikingly low figures about car crime resolution, meaning most of the public simply give up reporting it because the chances of anything positive happening are so slim."

"The country is just short of investigators," he said. "There's lots of forces that haven't got enough detectives - therefore, very often, crimes aren't allocated to the right people to investigate."