11
Feb
2015
By Calvin at 11:14 GMT, 10 years ago
The Telegraph online (9 February) is carrying a story (by Martin Evans) telling us that Leicestershire Constabulary has told some of its beat officers not to investigate crime.
You ought to read the story here first, but here’s my quick summary:
- The Chief Constable is facing continued budget reductions (-£10m) and will, according to the report, have to lose 300 of its 2,200 officers over the next two years.
- The 155 ‘dedicated neighbourhood officers’ (DNOs) who have been told they won’t be investigating crime will actually be focussing on anti-social behaviour, vandalism, neighbour disputes, interacting with the public and offering crime prevention advice. Crimes requiring investigation will be passed onto a force investigation unit and they won’t be involved in planned arrests or attending incidents, which will be dealt with by specialist units instead.
- Mr Evans of the Telegraph then furthers the controversy by quoting Labour MP Ian Austin as saying: “When a crime is committed people want a police officer to investigate and the guilty people found, charged, taken to court and punished.......... while offering advice on crime prevention was clearly important....... more crimes could go unsolved.”
- Mr Evans then writes this sentence ‘the move is not expected to be popular with officers who join the force to help tackle crime and bring criminals to justice.’
- Finally he reminds us that Shadow Police Minister Jack Dromey has warned that ‘senior officers are increasingly making cuts to front line policing by putting more officers on the beat, even though there are less available to investigate crime’
TCPW Comment:
I don’t like this article and here are my responses
- The budget reductions are certainly steep, but do reflect the continued fall in most crime categories. Police recorded crime in 2003 was 6 million and in June 2014 it was 3.7 million. Crime Survey estimates also show huge reductions over time – 11 million in 1981 and 7.1 million in 2014. This being said we should not forget that crime is just one part of our police officers’ duties.
- I think these DNOs will actually be focussing on problems that take up a disproportionate amount of police time. In my role as a security consultant I regularly look up crime data on police.uk. In one London area, anti-social behaviour (ASB), criminal damage and violence together accounted for 54% of all crime reports and in a second location the proportion was an even bigger 66%! It’s important to note that violence, criminal damage and neighbour disputes are often associated with ASB and so what these officers will be doing is a very important part of police work! Passing investigations onto specialist police units is common practice and always has been.
- Ian Austin’s comment doesn’t seem to hold water. First of all the Chief Constable has not said that crime committed won’t be investigated. He has actually said it will be, but by a specialist team. Secondly, under the current economic climate and with fewer police on the beat, crime prevention couldn’t be more important. Crime prevention means fewer victims and less strain on police resources and crime prevention has long-term benefits too, because, for example, a new house alarm will work to prevent burglary for perhaps 20 years before a replacement is needed.
- I’m not too clear why the popularity of ‘the move’ would be an issue for the police. Anti-social behaviour, neighbour disputes, public order offences and the violence and criminal damage associated with it are extremely important matters which the public expect the police service to deal with. When you join the police service you’re there to serve and be part of a disciplined team. You do what is required of you. ‘Popularity’ doesn’t come into it.
- This last sentence doesn’t make any sense if you read it twice!
Policing is a complicated job and I think our Chief Constables are doing the very best they can do with the ever decreasing resources. There is a limit, of course, but the more we can do for ourselves using the crime prevention techniques I prescribe on this website, the more chance our police will have in investigating and catching the offenders when our barriers don’t hold up.
Time for a lie down....
Source Telegraph online: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11399822/Police-force-tells-officers-Dont-investigate-crimes.html
