Investment needed to ease pressure on policing

19 August 2021

Suffolk Police Federation chair Darren Harris has called for long-term investment in policing to ease the demands on officers.

Darren says that officers are under unprecedented pressure brought about by low numbers, increasing demands and the global pandemic.

Now he’s urging the Government to increase investment in the recruitment and retention of officers and support staff to help meet those demands and ease the pressure on policing.

Responding to recent events, Darren said: “Police officer numbers continue to be low. Compared to a decade ago we have 10,000 fewer officers and we also have fewer staff, who do such a great job supporting frontline officers.

“That in itself brings pressures. Add to that a growing population, increased demands on policing and the Covid-19 pandemic and officers are under pressure like never before.

“To be able to meet those pressures, we need genuine investment in policing – proper long-term sustained investment that will return police numbers to where they were and to retain officers as well.”

Darren’s comments are in line with the views of John Apter, the Federation’s national chair, who has also been reacting to recent events.

John said: “It seems that no matter what happens within society, the finger of blame always leads itself towards policing, before the facts are known.

“The harsh reality is, despite the almost daily information being put out by Government and other agencies about the increase of police officer numbers, that we are still nowhere near where we need to be to react to everything the way the public would expect and the way that we should be able to. This is an inconvenient truth for some.”

He added: “Low numbers and a global pandemic mean that there is more pressure. Pressure on frontline officers, response policing, detectives and pressure on back office functions including departments like firearms licensing.

“The pressure is intolerable and leads to delays that are unavoidable despite our best efforts. This is the reality that policing is facing, while at the same time being held accountable for matters that sit firmly with other agencies.

“Policing is often the service of last resort and we can’t always say no, we can’t close our doors at 5pm on a Friday afternoon.

“We need to increase our numbers, officers and staff, above what is promised by the Government or we will continuously be chasing our tail, never being able to be fully proactive in dealing with the pressures we face.

“The lack of genuine investment in policing is putting the public at risk and that is something that no society should ever accept. My colleagues, officers and staff, are committed to doing everything that we can to keep the public safe, but we need the help to do this.”