Nicky’s warning on overstretched forces

21 August 2022

Police Federation Welsh lead Nicky Ryan has urged the Government to look at officers’ workload as well as pay and recruitment amid policing’s “Summer of Discontent”.

Nicky warned Wales’ overstretched forces were struggling to cope with the soaring demands and the inevitable impact was now starting to affect the services they provide to their communities.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, she said: “Every time a police officer is answering a call that should be dealt with by the ambulance service, that is one less police officer to answer that 999 call or attend that road accident.

“Every time they are dealing with a mental health crisis, that is one less police officer to deal with crime.

“We have lots of internal demand, internal bureaucracy which is put upon us by the Home Office and if you tie up an officer with a case file, a bureaucratic process, they physically cannot be writing a file and answering a 999 call at the same time.”

A recently published report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) found many frontline uniformed response officers tasked with investigating crime said administration and competing demands delayed their investigations.

The report pointed to a national detective shortage and a large number of inexperienced officers as contributing factors to poorer responses, as well as pressure on operators to take 999 calls and collect the “bare minimum” of information from victims.

HMICFRS has now made a set of recommendations to forces in order to improve their approach, including giving victims timely and appropriate advice during their initial call, carrying out risk assessments, clearly recording them, and flagging those re-victimised for further support.

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke insisted “policing can do better” but acknowledged they were faced with greater demands.

Speaking after the publication of the HMICFRS report he said police forces spent a significant amount of time dealing with issues that would previously have been dealt with by “other parts of the system”, such as mental health issues.

“It is a challenging time in policing,” he said. “I think police officers on the streets, the vast majority, do a fantastic job on a daily basis - professional, dedicated, brave.”