Federation chairman: We are not “scaremongering” on cuts

ESSEX Police Federation has rubbished the Home Secretary’s claims that police officers are “scaremongering” when they speak out against cuts.

The Federation has been speaking out about the reality of multi-million pound cuts, which have led to the loss of 400 officers since 2011, as part of its #CutsHaveConsequences campaign.

But the Home Secretary warned officers on at the Police Federation annual conference that more cuts were to come, adding: “I have to tell you that this kind of scaremongering does nobody any good.  It doesn’t serve you, it doesn’t serve the officers you represent, and it doesn’t serve the public.”

Speaking after Theresa May’s address, Mark Smith, Chairman of Essex Police Federation, said: “This leaves us as a Federation still pushing forward with our #CutsHaveConsequences campaign. It is not scaremongering. If she had paid attention to the campaign, she would have seen it was all information that was out there, it was all information that is 100% true. If a unit had gone, if there were budget cuts it cant be seen as scaremongering – it is the absolute truth.”

He added: “We will carry on trying to get the message out there because the cuts still need to stop or be done in a different way.”

Monty Montgomery, Secretary of Essex Police Federation, warned that cuts will lead to more children becoming victim to sexual exploitation.

He said: “The Home Secretary talked about detecting child sexual exploitation – she didn’t talk about preventing it. Preventing that crime is done by schools officers in primary schools and neighbourhoods officers in neighbourhoods. Our neighbourhoods are being cut. We don’t have the luxury of having schools officers any more.

“So we have lost that access to the primary school children who are vulnerable and will be the victims of the future because we are not preventing crimes. We might be able to detect them in the future, but we won’t be able to prevent them. Preventing crimes is one of our key functions.”