Norfolk Chair reacts to Judges "gross delays" comments in bringing case to court

20 August 2019

Andy Symonds, Norfolk Fed Chair reacts to Judge Katharine Moore comments in relation to "gross delays" in police investigations reaching court.

Andy Symonds, chairman of the Norfolk Police Federation, added the delay "is not unusual in 2019 due to the cuts over the last 10 years to policing and the wider criminal justice system". He said: "We will always want to bring offenders to justice as swiftly as we can and we have some learning we can take from this particular case, however in reality with the intense pressures and unprecedented workloads our detectives are working with it is no surprise that these are the timescales we're working in.

"I know all of my detective colleagues care compassionately in obtaining justice for victims of crime. They work diligently and professionally on all of their investigations. However working at this level of pressure all of the time inevitably leads to detectives suffering with exhaustion and stress.

"I'm concerned that officers are being put off a career as a detective because of the long hours, high workloads, complicated court cases and their work being under-valued.

"In reality some really good detective work by my colleagues achieved a conviction in this case."

See full EDP article by clicking the link below;

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/police-delays-norwich-crown-court-matthew-smith-1-6220517