Chair’s message: ‘The whole system needs to be looked at’

20 August 2024

By branch chair, Sam Dobbs

After the criminal violence aimed at our members over the past few weeks, the support for police officers shown by our new Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is most welcome.

Officers up and down the country were faced with an unprecedented level of aggression and hostility after the tragic murders of the young girls from Southport.

Hundreds were assaulted and many needed hospital treatment as they protected their communities.

Shift patterns have been changed, and leave and rest days cancelled, meaning our members have been making huge, unseen, personal sacrifices to ensure policing levels were maintained. I’ve even been approached by some officers offering to delay their holiday to help at such crucial times - and they are officers with families. Without a doubt, everyone in the police family, including loved ones, have felt the impact recently.

Home Secretary

I am sure that officers will have been encouraged to hear the supportive statements from Ms Cooper and her desire to restore respect for policing. I certainly have been.

Ms Cooper was supportive of the police when she was shadow home secretary, and it’s pleasing to see her in her new role recognise the actions of our members after such a testing time for them.

Of course, we know that in Northamptonshire, the vast majority of people do respect the police and that’s been particularly evident recently. I’ve already shined a light on the numerous messages that have been sent to officers across the country, thanking them for their work and dedication to the job.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

However, there is always a tiny minority who think it’s acceptable to attack and assault officers, and those who have been convicted over the past few days have received swift and strong justice. I agree, this had to happen.

We’ve seen significant custodial sentences handed down, which is what the Home Secretary and Prime Minister called for and what has been needed to provide a deterrent.

And, while I welcome comments from the Home Secretary calling for consistent punishments for those who assault officers, I feel the issue is wider than that. I believe the Criminal Justice System as a whole must be looked at.

Victims

There is a huge backlog of cases, some of them involving the most serious of crimes and allegations, and yet victims and our officers involved are waiting years to get justice.

Don’t get me wrong, assaults on officers should not and must not be accepted. And hearing and seeing that offenders are being punished accordingly is something the Federation has been campaigning for.

But how must victims of such serious crimes be feeling? Victims who have been raped, waiting months - and sometimes years - to get justice. I wouldn’t blame them for feeling let down by the system.

So yes, Home Secretary, consistently harsh punishments are required for those who assault officers. But don’t forget about the victims of those serious crimes and the officers involved, who have been waiting - and continue to wait - tirelessly for their court case to come around.

Respect

It’s clear that there’s still a long way to go and a lot to do if the Government are serious about rebuilding relationships with police officers and restoring respect for the law.

I just hope that the Home Secretary’s recent comments will get the ball rolling, and the Government will start to look at the ongoing issues that the Criminal Justice System is facing.

Lastly, I’d like to thank our local media outlets for continuing to report on court cases. I’m extremely grateful that local reporters and news platforms still invest in covering these cases, as it’s one of the ways members of the public will see that these offences will not be accepted.

It’s important that justice must not only be done but that it must be seen to be done.

Please keep safe and look after yourselves.