Call for police to be given more time and better resources to fight crime

5 October 2022

Calls for police officers to be given more time and better resources to concentrate on fighting crime have been backed by Gwent Police Federation.

Branch chair Matthew Candy said he was fully behind former chief constable of Greater Manchester Sir Peter Fahy who is urging the Government to reduce the demands on police forces who are struggling to deliver basic services because of workloads.

Sir Peter spoke out after the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) pledged to send officers to investigate all home burglaries as part of a new set of standards they hope will result in more crimes being solved and more offenders prosecuted.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Wednesday (5 October): “The Government needs to remove from policing all these additional tasks that have been taken on.

“It is not just about the number of police officers, it’s what they do and whether they are given the freedom and the tools to concentrate on crime.

“At the moment most frontline operational officers are very frustrated that they can’t concentrate on crime and criminals because they are picking up lots of other jobs as well, covering for social services and mental health services.

“These are vital jobs but police officers are not actually trained to do them and they want to concentrate on crime and, while numbers are going up, a lot of those officers are inexperienced and need time to learn the craft and get to know local criminals and local patterns of crime.”

Matthew said Sir Peter had hit the nail on the head with increasing demands on policing becoming a huge issue and having a massive impact on the health and wellbeing of members.

He said: “Our members take great in serving as police officers and strive every day to deliver the best service they can to their communities.

“But sometimes they feel they are trying to work with one hand tied behind the back because of the extra workload they are being asked to take on.

“They want to be free to concentrate on what they do best: investigating crime, catching criminals and helping bring suspects to justice but they are often too busy doing tasks which, in fairness, should be the responsibility of other agencies.

“We welcome the pledge from the NPCC to make sure police officers attend all reports of burglary and look forward to working to regain the trust and confidence of the people of Gwent.”