Another summer. Another warning sign. And still, far too few answers.

The recent disorder in Epping — where police officers were pelted with bricks and bottles outside an asylum centre — was not just a troubling one-off. It was a signal flare. A reminder of how little it takes for tensions to erupt and how ill-prepared we remain to deal with it.

Last summer’s civil unrest exposed the deep fragility within our public order policing system. The gaps were plain to see: mutual aid stripped to the bone, coordination between forces lacking, and a total failure to anticipate how disorder is now sparked and fuelled online. Officers were left to face missiles with little more than a shield and a short briefing. The risks were there in black and white — yet little has improved since.

Instead of strengthening our front line, we are continuing to sap its energy. More than 1,500 officers have been pulled from local forces to police a private visit by the US President. This was not a state occasion; it was a leisure trip. While he plays golf, communities hundreds of miles away are left without coverage, and already exhausted public order units are stretched even further.

It would be comical if it weren’t so serious — and so familiar. Local commanders are once again being forced to choose between keeping the peace at home or plugging national gaps.

Meanwhile, anger is building. Every other public sector profession — from NHS staff to teachers and the Armed Forces — has had its annual pay award confirmed. Police officers, alone, are still waiting. With just weeks before the new pay period begins, there has been nothing but silence.

It’s hard not to see that delay as calculated — an attempt to avoid fuelling discontent in a workforce already under strain. If that’s the plan, it is both cynical and dangerous. Officers don’t need a message of reassurance. They need action — and respect.

Through our Copped Enough campaign, we hear from officers who are at breaking point. Working relentless overtime, not as a choice but as an expectation. Taking second jobs to keep up with rising costs. Watching friends and colleagues walk away because the personal toll has become too great.

Behind each uniform is a person — someone with a family, responsibilities, and limits. When officers are stretched to breaking point, the effects ripple far beyond the frontline. It impacts home lives, mental health, and long-term wellbeing. These are not just statistics or headlines. These are real people carrying the weight of a system in crisis.

This goes far beyond pay. This is about whether the country still values the men and women who step forward when everything else breaks down. Right now, many of them feel utterly abandoned.

Policing cannot function on goodwill alone. Public order requires planning, investment and leadership. But officers are being pulled in every direction, asked to do more with less, and left in the dark about their future — all while being quietly sacrificed for short-term convenience.

They will turn up. They always do. But it is dangerous to assume that they can continue to hold the line indefinitely, without the support they need or the recognition they deserve.

A summer of further unrest is not inevitable. But it becomes far more likely if we once again fail to prepare.

ENDS