‘Decade of cuts has hit crime-fighting’

15 August 2022

The chair of West Midlands Police Federation says more than a decade of funding cuts is undermining officers’ ability to prevent and detect crime.

Rich Cooke highlighted the impact of austerity after a new report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) raised concerns opportunities were being missed in investigations into burglary, robbery and theft.

Rich said: “These aren’t minor crimes and they have a terrible impact on people, their lives and their livelihoods.

“As a result of austerity, policing in the West Midlands has become much more centralised and distant from the public. Countless stations and community bases have closed. Gone are the days bobbies could rely on a local custody block. Today, if you lock someone up you are usually driving them much longer distances, off area and will spend most of you shift dealing with it. We now cover such wide geographical areas it’s impossible to know them and their communities well. So it’s not surprising that forces aren’t able to tackle burglary, robbery and theft effectively.

“The Police Federation of England and Wales has long warned about the impact of austerity and cuts to policing, and the real-life consequences that would follow.

“Our members are overstretched and the demands on their time are increasing. Crazy crime recording rules are not helping, with thousands of extra ‘crimes’ being recorded where the victim either didn’t intend to ‘report’ it and doesn’t support an investigation. Most are based on a perception and a technical interpretation of definitions rather than real criminality. Theses all need to be screened and written off. Many investigators now feel they’ve become mere ‘administrators’ of crime, such is the deluge of work.

“We need urgent, sustained, long-term investment in our police service, from recruitment to retention, from training to infrastructure, so that we can provide the police service our communities demand and deserve.

“The Government talks about its investment in policing and the uplift programme through which it set out to recruit 20,000 officers in three years but the rush to recruit has created a plethora of new problems in coaching and training officers who are simultaneously under the pressure of completing academic studies. ”

 The HMICFRS report found:

• Forces are missing opportunities to identify and catch offenders, from the moment a member of the public reports the crime to the point where a case is finalised;
• Police are not doing all they can to help victims when they report crimes – in 71 percent of the burglary reports examined, police personnel did not give victims any advice on crime-scene preservation during the initial call;
• Forces lack investigative capacity and capability to effectively tackle burglary, robbery and theft, often because of the national detective shortage and inexperience; and
• Investigations are not being appropriately or thoroughly supervised, with a third of cases examined having insufficient evidence of proper supervision.

HMICFRS has recommended that by March 2023, all police forces should ensure: 

• Their crime-scene management practices adhere to the authorised professional practice on managing investigations for burglary, robbery and theft; and
• These investigations are subject to effective supervision and direction.

Rich also called for policing to receive a multi-year funding to would allow forces to make long-term plans to fight crime and prioritise areas such as burglary, robbery and theft.

He said: “The current year-to-year funding settlement encourages short-term thinking. We need to be looking longer term so that we can identify and target priority areas, and to do that we need a longer term funding settlement.”

Steve Hartshorn, the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) national chair, echoed Rich’s comments and said that the Federation has been warning for years of the impact of cuts on policing.

He said: “Policing is in crisis due to a perfect storm of factors – many PFEW have been warning about repeatedly for a number of years, including, most significantly, that cuts would have dire consequences.

“We have sadly been found to be correct. It appears that despite the same messages from various reports and organisations over the years no action has been taken to prevent matters escalating and becoming worse.”

And he added his name to calls for a long-term funding settlement for forces.

Steve said: “Our members deserve more investment, better benefits and an appropriate integrated learning environment that equips them for the realities of policing.

“I would urge the Government to commit to a long-term, sustainable funding settlement, and review its outdated funding formula which contributes to this postcode lottery service for victims, which is unacceptable.

“A long-term plan would allow chief constables, police and crime commissioners and our partner agencies in policing to plan for the future and would also help efforts to put sustainable mentoring and training strategies in place so our officers can provide the very best service they themselves want to provide to the public.”

Speaking about the report, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke said: “Burglary, robbery and theft are not minor crimes. They are crimes that strike at the heart of how safe people feel in their own homes or communities. The current low charge rates for these crimes are unacceptable and unsustainable – there needs to be a concerted drive to address this issue because it directly affects the public’s confidence in the police’s ability to keep them safe.”

He added: “A lack of experienced officers means that too often, these crimes are being investigated poorly and are not adequately supervised – often because supervisors themselves are inexperienced and overstretched.

“We found that some police forces are working hard to tackle these crimes and uncovered some excellent examples of innovative and effective practice. We hope that other forces will follow these examples.

“We’ve made two recommendations for police forces to go back to basics by improving crime scene management and ensuring proper supervision so that investigations are conducted effectively.”