Police Today

My experience of the Police force in the United Kingdom in the past is they great job with the resources they have, but it seems those resources are at a critical  point, where crimes aren't being investigated at all and evidence isn't even being collected. How a political party that is in power that has always said it is tough on crime shows what a joke the party has become under the leadership of David Cameron.

In a report publish today by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said criminal damage and car crime were "on the verge of being decriminalised" because forces had "almost given up". It went on to say Victims of crime are being "encouraged" to investigate offences themselves, with the victims being asked to check for CCTV or fingerprints.In addition to this some forces were using police community support officers as detectives.

One thing the inspectors picked up on was that  there ware a high number of "desk-based investigations", where forces decide to deal with a crime over the telephone without any attendance at the scene, without face-to-face contact with the victim." It would seem these desk-based investigations are failing to serve the public and mean "little or nothing more than recording a crime without taking further action".

The report is incredibly damaging to the police with many people having their fears confirmed that there are some crimes the police can't be bothered with. Over recent years Police budgets have been cut by hundreds of millions of pounds, this had led reducing the police force and the people working behind the scenes to a minimum. The report highlights that the effect of the cuts is that some of the basic functions of policing appear to be slipping through the cracks in some areas.

Although some people could argue that the crimes not being investigated are not important they still affect lives and cost us millions of pounds in insurance premiums. Take for example car crime, a car is a high value item and if stolen becomes a loss to the insurance company even if it is returned, have enough car crime and the total cost of the crime across the UK soon mounts up.  It also affects people making them feel unsafe and insecure if the police do nothing about it.

The report won't come as a shock to some polices forces and members of the public who have been ignored after phoning the police, but I hope it is a wake up call for the Government to look at how it can start reversing the cuts as soon as possible and start to build a safer society. As Shadow Policing Minister Jack Dromey said: "Theresa May has cut more police officers than any other country in Europe. With 16,000 gone, the thin blue line is being stretched ever thinner.".

As the Inspector of Constabulary, Roger Baker, said in an interview "When a crime has been committed, it's the job of the police service to go and find out who's done it and bring them to justice. They're the cops and we expect the cops to catch people and my proposition is unless you've got the powers of Mystic Meg or something like that, you not turning up and using your skills, it's going to be mightily difficult to bring people to justice.".

In response to the report the president of the Police Superintendents' Association Irene Curtis said that the police had  significant efforts to protect the front-line in the face of cuts but it seemed like "some of the basic functions of policing appear to be slipping through the cracks in some areas."  Before she acknowledge that "The public and victims of crime in particular deserve the highest standard of service from the police, wherever they live, so it's important that these issues are addressed". While President of the Association of Chief Police Officers , Sir Hugh Orde admitted "The reality of austerity in policing means that forces must ensure that their officers' time is put to best use and this means prioritising calls.".

What was  interesting in the press was the lack of response from Home Secutary, Theresa May or any member of the Government in the press. They seemed to be hiding behind the words of the Polices own professional bodies. Clearly they either think that crime and policing isn't a big issue or they just know that their policy about law and order has failed and they are hoping we will forget about it.