Time for more than words

18 December 2019

Boris Johnson’s new Government must deliver on his pre-election promises on increased funding for policing, says the chair of West Midlands Police Federation.

And Jon Nott has warned that police officers are expecting to see both the Prime Minister and Home Secretary Priti Patel show their words of support and commitment to backing them are echoed in a reinvestment in policing.

“From the time Mr Johnson became PM he seemed to admit that police cuts under his predecessors had gone too far by announcing that he wanted to recruit 20,000 new police officers over the next three years,” says Jon.

“Of course, his plans were somewhat interrupted when the General Election was called but now that he has been re-elected with a majority we expect him to get on with this recruitment campaign.

“While the election campaign was dominated by Brexit, I believe the public have suffered as a result of cuts to policing budgets and the Government needs to act on this. For far too long, police officers have been trying to do more with less and this has not only affected the service we have been able to provide but has also had a terrible impact on officers’ health and wellbeing.”

In addition to the recruitment programme, ahead of the election the Government had announced funding to allow increased roll-out of Taser, the launch of a Police Covenant to give better protection to officers, support for a change in the law to give better legal protection for police drivers and plans to allow Specials to join the Police Federation.

At the Federation’s centenary event in November, the Home Secretary said she wanted to double the maximum sentence for those who attack police officers and emergency service workers to 24 months.

“We have welcomed this support but we now need to see the Government act on all of these issues,” says Jon.