Home Secretary should concentrate on fair pay award for officers, says Fed chair

2 May 2023

Suffolk Police Federation chair Darren Harris has hit back at the Home Secretary following comments that some officers were more interested in “virtue signalling” than tackling crime.

Darren said the remarks by Suella Braverman were a distraction from a decade of underinvestment in policing and falling wages which had damaged the police service.

He said: “More than half of respondents to our pay and morale survey said their personal morale was low or very low, with 97 per cent saying that how they’re treated by the Government was a major factor. 

“These comments by the Home Secretary are further evidence of that. They’re divisive, undermine our efforts and attempt to distract from the years of underfunding and poor pay that has hampered policing.

“Instead of stoking the so-called culture wars, the Home Secretary should concentrate on delivering for police officers with a fair pay award so that officers aren’t visiting food banks or worrying about their rent or mortgage.”

Darren was responding to a speech by Home Secretary Suella Braverman in which she said political correctness was hampering police.

Ms Braverman was speaking at the Public Safety Foundation think tank where she said that officers should concentrate on “common sense policing”

She said: “Common sense policing means more police on our streets.

“It means better police culture and higher standards.

“It means giving the public confidence that the police are unequivocally on their side, not pandering to politically correct preoccupations.

“It means measuring the police on outputs such as public response times, crimes solved, and criminals captured.

“It means police officers freed up to spend their time on proper police work.

“It means police prioritising the highest harm crimes and those that matter most to the public.

“It means the police making use of powers like stop and search that have proven effective in taking weapons off our streets.

“And above all else, common sense policing means officers maintaining a relentless focus on fighting crime, catching criminals, and keeping the public safe.”

Ms Braverman added: “Now I believe in the police. But the policing in which I believe isn’t riven with political correctness, but enshrined in good old fashioned common sense.

“The perception – however unjustified or unrepresentative – that some police are more interested in virtue signalling, or in protecting the interests of a radical minority engaged in criminality, than they are protecting the rights of the law-abiding majority – is utterly corrosive to public confidence in policing. The police must be more sensitive to this and work harder to counter it.

“If police chiefs approached instilling a culture of political impartiality, with the same dedication which they approach instilling a culture of diversity and inclusion, I have no doubt that public confidence in policing would be materially improved.”

Darren added: “Of course our members come into policing to tackle crime and catch criminals.

“But they also police many community, cultural and sporting events, where they show the human side to policing.

“It’s about building confidence in the police and ensuring that all communities feel safe and supported. And hopefully people will feel they can trust us to come forward with information if we ever need it. That to me is common sense policing.”

Read Ms Braverman’s speech in full.