Latest comments by Home Secretary are ‘out of touch’

30 August 2023

Police Federation Welsh affairs lead Nicky Ryan has dismissed the Home Secretary’s latest comments on policing as “out of touch”.

Suella Braverman insisted the police have all the resources necessary to meet a pledge to follow “reasonable lines of inquiry” when investigating crime.

But Nicky said the claims would be rejected by anyone involved with the police service.

Ms Braverman’s comments came after the College of Policing published guidance for officers in England and Wales to consider all potential evidence such as footage from CCTV, doorbells and dashcams, as well as phone tracking.

The College of Policing said members of the public would then know what they can expect from police when they report a crime such as burglary or theft and that the service would become more consistent across regions and solve more crimes.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Ms Braverman said no crime was “minor” and implored officers to act on leads for phone or car theft, shoplifting and criminal damage.

She said: “The police have a record number of men and women working on their front line than ever before. So they have the numbers of people who are there.

“This is about ensuring that those resources are properly diverted to what I call common sense policing, back-to-basics policing, that they don’t dismiss certain crimes as unimportant or minor.

“It's about ensuring that they are freed up from doing other time-consuming tasks.

She said that Government efforts were “about freeing up police time from needless bureaucracy”.

Ms Braverman insisted Government crime policies were working but warned members of the public were often dissatisfied by the police response.

She said: “The police have made progress in preventing crime across the country with neighbourhood offences like burglary, robbery and vehicle theft down by 51 per cent since 2010.

“Despite this success, since I became home secretary, I’ve heard too many accounts from victims where police simply haven’t acted on helpful leads because crimes such as phone and car thefts are seen as less important – that’s unacceptable.

“It has damaged people’s confidence in policing. Criminals must have no place to hide.”

Nicky said Ms Braverman’s comments painted an unrealistic picture of how police forces operate.

She said: “I think most officers in the Welsh forces will be astonished by the Home Secretary’s comments.

“The inevitable consequences of years of under-funding are well-documented and to try to suggest otherwise would appear to show how out of touch she is.

“Our members work very hard, often in extremely challenging circumstances, to provide the best possible service to the people of Wales.

“They would be the first to agree that improvements could be made but that would entail proper funding, not shuffling existing resources to fit a political agenda, and that is where the Home Secretary’s priorities should lie.”

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has dismissed Ms Braverman’s pledge as unrealistic given the squeeze on police funding at a time of rising crime and accused her of attempting to interfere with police independence.

In an open letter written in response to the Home Secretary’s announcement, NPCC chair, chief constable Gavin Stephens, said: “To see trust in police return to where it used to be, an effectively staffed and properly funded police service is essential.”

Mr Stephens said 21 of the 43 forces in England and Wales “still have less officers than in 2010” and added: “It is therefore right that police chiefs have operational independence and are responsible for making difficult decisions around how best to respond to the breadth of priorities of local communities.”