Chairman reacts to HMICFRS report: “It looks like we have had our grace period and now Brexit is done it is open season on the police again."

7 February 2020

Mark Andrews, Chairman of Wiltshire Police Federation, reacts to HMIC report “Noticeable differences between police and the service they provide” which has led to headlines this morning such as “Failing police 'rumbled' by weary public” and “Crimes not reported' as public lose confidence in police”

Mark said: “It looks like we have had our grace period and now Brexit is done it is open season on the police again.  

“In the last 15 years, Wiltshire Police has lost 300 officers but despite this we continue to perform at the highest level.” 

Mark added: “I am so proud of our officers as despite being subjected to daily attacks, growing workloads and dealing with increasingly complex crime they get up every day come to work and do their best for the communities they serve. 

“The police are the public and the public are the police. Our officers will never forget this and will strive to prove our commitment to the public despite negative press stories which try to stick the boot in.”

See the full HMICFRS report here https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/news/news-feed/noticeable-differences-between-police-and-the-service-they-provide/

In the report, HMIC Matt Parr said the public had "rumbled" that the police do not have the capacity to deal with common crimes, such as burglaries or car crime, and have given up reporting incidents to police.

"I think particularly in the volume crime area the public has rumbled that the police capacity to deal with this is extremely limited."

Mr Parr added: "There are some strikingly low figures about car crime resolution, meaning most of the public simply give up reporting it because the chances of anything positive happening are so slim."

"The country is just short of investigators," he said. "There's lots of forces that haven't got enough detectives - therefore, very often, crimes aren't allocated to the right people to investigate."