Private patrols: "It's sad that it's come to this. Obviously there have been so many cuts to policing"

12 February 2020

Local community groups are carrying out their own patrols on the streets of Hampshire, as cuts to funding mean there are fewer police officers on the beat, Hampshire Police Federation has said.

Unlike police community support officers, who have designated powers from the Government to deal with minor offences, resident patrols don’t have any powers and could be putting themselves in danger.

Zoë Wakefield, Vice-Chair of Hampshire Police Federation (pictured), said: “I don’t know what training they have. It’s quite a concern. They might go to an incident that appears to be very minor from all the reports, but when you get there it’s actually much more serious.

“So there’s a concern for their safety as well, because they don’t have anywhere near the amount of training that officers have – they’re not going to be able to deal with what they find.”

She continued: “We do understand the frustrations from the community that we can’t respond to and investigate everything that we used to – we can’t give the service we used to be able to give. We want the public to keep telling us what’s happening, even if we can’t always do something about it. At least we can build a picture of what is going on, even if at the moment we don’t have the resources to deal with it.”

Zoë said that Hampshire Police had lost more than 1,000 officers in recent years. The Prime Minister has pledged to recruit 20,000 new police officers in England and Wales within three years, but the BBC reported this week that the Home Office and senior police officials say more than 50,000 will be needed in that period.

Zoë said: “In Hampshire we lose around 50 officers a month through retirement, resignation and transfer into other forces. The Government’s promise to recruit more officers will be a help, but it’s not going to be enough.”

She said it was good news that there will be extra officers on the beat to relieve the pressure on communities, but that it would take time to train the new recruits.