“How do you measure the value of an officer patrolling the streets?" The Home Office has today published statistics showing a 7% drop in crime in the year ending 31 March 2013. Further figures published today show that during those 12 months, officer numbers fell by 3.4% (4,516 officers). The HMIC has also published its report ‘Policing in Austerity’. Steve Williams, Chairman, Police Federation of England and Wales, says: “We are rightly proud of the commitment and dedication of our police officers and through their professionalism victim satisfaction rates are on the rise. We accept that in some areas massive improvements have been made in the detection of crime through developments in technology. “However, we remain concerned that due to the vast changes in crime recording over the last ten years it is impossible to make a true comparison of the statistics. Further, the constant changes in crime types mean that some crimes were not even recorded accurately or even existed to the same extent in the past - for example cybercrime, which affects so many people. Can we know that we are accurately recording all types of cybercrime at the moment? “The police strength figures released today show that we lost another 4,516 officers – the equivalent of an entire police force – in the last year and more than 15,000 since the 2010 general election. The 4.9% reduction in the policing budget in 2015/16 will inevitably lead to a further drop in officer numbers. “This drop in officer numbers is having a negative impact in service delivery. A report published today by the HMIC paints a worrying picture of officers being pulled away from proactive community policing. As HMIC acknowledges, neighbourhood policing plays a pivotal role in building confidence and reducing crime. “How do you measure the value of an officer patrolling the streets? If this form of preventative policing is falling by the wayside then how many crimes are now going unreported because an officer is not there to spot suspicious behaviour? “It must also be remembered that policing is about far more than preventing crime. Every day police officers are dealing with mental health incidents, searching for missing persons and dealing with road traffic collisions. Where is this reflected in the crime figures?” CC Peter Fahy: “There is a serious concern that as the number of staff reduce we lose our capacity to do preventative and proactive work". polfed.org/newsroom/1478.aspx
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 11:53:55 +0000