ROADS policing has to emerge as a priority for policing, among all the other areas of the service that need attention, Essex Police Federation says.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
The PFEW has called for policing our highways to be near the top of the list to reverse years of damage which has seen the number of roads police officers fall and the number of motorists injured and dying go up.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
Some 1,800 people die on UK roads each year \u2013 more than twice the number of deaths from homicides and terrorism combined. A further 25,000 people are seriously injured \u2013 while the number of roads officers dropped by 18% between 2015 and 2019.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
They\u2019re headline-grabbing figures which suggest roads policing needs to be shuffled up to the top of the agenda.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cRoads policing is a priority. Over the years we have just cut away at that, and I think we are now seeing the consequences as a result of that\u201d, Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cEssex is heading in the right direction getting more officers in and that\u2019s very much a long-term fix because even getting the officers through the door they\u2019ve still got to do all their training, they\u2019ve got to progress.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we build up our numbers that we have lost then we\u2019re not in a position to necessarily expand on the specialist departments, be it CID, be it traffic.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be when you drove around you\u2019d see a police car, you\u2019d see the traffic car, you\u2019d see a traffic officer standing at the side of the road doing a road check or doing a speed check.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t see that anymore, and that\u2019s one of the complaints we get from the public; \u00a0they never see a copper,\u201d Laura added.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s frustrating as well because a lot of the times now that people see police officers is only when they\u2019ve called them, when they actually really need them, which is unfortunate and we lose information and intelligence that we used to gain that we don\u2019t get now.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
A certain element of deterrent has also been removed, Laura warned.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cPeople might be over the limit, but they run the risk because what\u2019s the chance of them seeing a police officer, especially in the more rural locations?<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cThe deterrent isn\u2019t there at the moment because we haven\u2019t got as many dedicated roads policing officers out there,\u201d she said.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
Other priorities and gaps that need filling in the service can mean it\u2019s a slow process refilling the roads policing ranks.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cI had an enquiry from an officer recently, they\u2019ve been waiting, they\u2019ve got accepted onto roads policing, but they\u2019re still waiting for their posting date,\u201d Laura said.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been given three separate posting dates, but because of COVID-19 each of those has been changed, put back. They\u2019re still waiting to go.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cBut the difficulty is everything has slowed down, so there aren\u2019t the people necessarily to backfill their role within the shift to then release them to go to traffic and roads policing.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a knock-on effect, and it\u2019s frustrating for those officers because when they apply for specialist roles or another role they put a lot of time and effort into that application and the interview that follows it.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cThey get a \u2018yes\u2019 but then sit there just waiting because there are priority areas and other priority areas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"