Officers at breaking point as crime in Essex continues to rise

ESSEX Police officers are at breaking point as crime continues to rise and officer numbers fall.

Crime in Essex has gone up by 9% in the past year, with Essex Police officers dealing with 124,000 offences at the same time as battling unprecedented sickness levels. Steve Taylor, Federation Chairman, said: “We have lost 700 officers in seven years and what will break, and what we have seen break, is the people.”

Essex sickness was the worst in the country and that’s getting better, which is to be applauded. But now the number of restricted officers is rising, meaning are we getting the absolute best out of those of us that find themselves on restrictions? There’s only so much we should be expecting from them.”

“Crime is going up, workload is increasing and numbers are not rising to match that increase in demand, if you’re not going to take that demand away you have to expect that your ability to deal with it is going to be impeded

“There will come a point where they have absolutely given all they can and there is nothing more to give, where we are as lean and efficient as we can be. And unfortunately, for some people, they’ll break far before that point. And we will start to see individuals paying the price for that, which is terrible.”

Roger Hirst, Essex’s Police and Crime Commissioner, is seeking for the cap on council tax to be lifted to fund more officers, a move which the Federation fully supports.

Steve added: “The Government can’t very well devolve responsibility for policing and funding for policing to the local level and then tie the very hands of the people responsible for delivering it with this preposterous cap, that anything more than 2%, in certain circumstances, requires a referendum of the people.

“If you’re not going to give it centrally, give us the ability to raise that money locally. What we’ve found, in our talks with our exclusively Conservative local MPs, is that there is a willingness for the community to put their hand in their pocket to the tune of tens of pence, no pounds – if it means there are more officers on the streets, if it means Essex Police is better funded to deal with this ever increasing and complex demand that policing is facing.”