UK public to further suffer from broken policing: Police chief
A senior police official in the United Kingdom says stretched resources have made policing effectively “broken” in parts of the country, warning that it is the public that would suffer from understaffing and cuts in police forces.
“The reality is that policing in some places is broken, we are most certainly in crisis and that is a direct result of the pressure the government has put on by a reduction in funding,” said new head of the Police Federation John Apter on Monday while speaking to the Independent newspaper.
The official, whose organization represents rank-and-file officers across England and Wales, said falling headcounts and increasing crime were forcing police to abandon some investigations into crimes that would have been previously dealt with.
“We can’t do everything – there are going to be situations where we simply can’t deliver the policing we want to deliver,” said Apter.
He added that police inability to investigate certain crimes meant a huge disappointment for the public.
"The public are already suffering and they are going to suffer more and more,” Apter said, adding, “we are failing the public, but that’s not the fault of police officers on the ground, and in some cases it’s not the chief constable’s fault.”
The official said the problem was directly linked to government decisions to cut police funding.
“What we are finding now is that we’ve been cut so much we start to become inefficient,” he said.
Britain has seen a considerable spike in the rate of crimes over the past years. Data by police shows that forces logged some 11 percent more crimes in the 12 months to March compared to the previous year. The 5.5 million crimes recorded is the highest tally seen for an equivalent period since 2005-06.
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