UK cuts to make more brutal police tactics inevitable: Official

More potential budget cuts by the new Tory government in the UK would force British police to adopt “paramilitary” enforcement tactics to maintain their ability to enforce law and order, the head of the police officers’ organization has warned.

“You get a style of policing where the first options are teargas, rubber bullets and water cannon, which are the last options in the UK,” said Chairman of the UK’s Police Federation Steve White, as quoted in a Sunday report by The Guardian daily.

Describing further budget cuts on the police force as devastating, White added that the federation’s 123,000 members, from police constables to inspectors, remain worried about a move toward a more brutal style of policing as they will have to keep law and order with even fewer officers than now.

The remarks came ahead of the federation’s annual conference later this week, when British Home Secretary Theresa May is due to address rank-and-file police officers.

May stunned the officers in her speech during last year’s conference, telling them that law enforcement was filing too often and demanding the police force to reform or be taken over by the government, the report added.

Rank-and-file police officers “are furious at the effects of austerity on their terms and conditions, as well as falling officer numbers nationally,” said the report, noting that May and her advisers dismiss predictions that budget cuts will lead to chaos on the streets and expect the police to squeeze maximum value out of the designated funds.

According to White, however, police had already suffered five years of austerity and were bracing for further “swinging cuts” following the recent election of an entirely Tory government.

The report also quoted White as saying that since 2010, when the Conservative-led coalition government began cutting the police budget by 20 percent, the service had been slashed by 17,000 officers and 17,000 civilian staff but still managed to limit its impact on the public.

However, he emphasized that the service was now “on its knees,” predicting that the policing budget will be further slashed by 20-25 percent by the end of the next parliament in 2020 and lead to the loss of over 15,000 officers.

“You are left with a police service who you only speak to in the direst of circumstances, a police service almost paramilitary in style,” White said.

He also said that the growing stress on British police officers has led to surging mental health issues, increased sick leaves and sinking morale.

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