FALLING crime rates do not mean the service is coping with cuts, the Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales has warned.<\/p>\n
Ministers who point to failing crime rates as evidence that the service is coping are basing this argument on a \u201cfalse premise\u201d, Steve White said. He was speaking after the National Audit Office issued its report into the police service\u2019s finances earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Crime statistics neither take account of all crime \u2013 some of which is rising \u2013 nor all the other vital work that officers do that doesn\u2019t fall into bald crime statistics, said Mr White. This includes counter-terrorism, monitoring sex offenders, child protection, policing football matches and much more.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe report highlights a number of realities and key issues that we have been concerned about long before the cuts took hold. Most notably, it reinforces the need for government to work with organisations who know and care about policing.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly it also rightly states that \u2018there are no standards for measuring demand\u2019 and their view is that there is \u2018no comprehensive national picture of demand across policing\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe disparity of data recording and lack of standardisation across forces does not help and we have long been calling for this to be addressed. Such inconsistencies lead to obvious questions, not least, where does it makes sense to cut costs and why?\u201d<\/p>\n
The police service has lost 16,659 officers since 2010. If officer losses continue at the same rate as last year, by 2016 it will be the equivalent of losing the number of officers employed by nine forces at the beginning of the period of austerity, or 18,829 officers between 2010 and 2016.<\/p>\n
Mr White added: \u201cSince 2010, immense pressure has been put on the police service to reduce costs quickly. Most significantly for the members we represent, it has severely impacted with the loss of almost 17,000 police colleagues and the same number of support staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore funding reductions are expected and the responsibility lies firmly with the government to work with the practitioners of policing to put the structures in place so that there is a clear national picture of capacity and the demands on the service. Public safety must come first at all times.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Home Office has \u201cinsufficient information\u201d on how much further it can cut police funding in England and Wales without “degrading services”, the National Audit Office\u2019s report stated earlier this month.<\/p>\n
It said ministers lacked information to know when a police force was at risk of being \u201cunable to deliver services\u201d.<\/p>\n
The office\u2019s report into financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales, said that while crime had appeared to have fallen, this his was an \u201cincomplete picture\u201d because statistics do not capture all crime and there is limited information on \u201cfinancial or service stress\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"