We are too broke to go on the beat

The following was a story in the Mail Online on 27 September.

Police chiefs have given a stark warning to Ministers that the next wave of massive spending cuts poses a ‘considerable risk to national security’, it can be revealed.

In a confidential top-level report written by senior officers and seen by The Mail on Sunday, a chilling picture emerges of a depleted emergency service, with forces unable to cope with riots, crime rates surging and local patrols a thing of the past.

The country’s top police chiefs held a secret summit this month to discuss the impact when billions more pounds are slashed from their budgets under Government austerity measures, forcing them to lose thousands more frontline officers............

Police chiefs warn that cutting central grants to forces by more than a quarter by 2020 will mean:

• The traditional bobby on the beat and patrol car ‘disappear completely’ in some areas, leaving officers just responding to emergencies.
• Without ‘eyes and ears’ in communities, police are left unable to gather intelligence on criminals and terrorists – with ‘big implications for national security’.
• Crime levels ‘rise more significantly’ as local prevention work is axed.
• Far fewer officers can be mobilised to tackle national crises, such as riots.
• There will be a ‘fundamental change’ in policing, with officers unable to act as ‘society’s safety net’ by attending accidents, looking for missing people and preventing suicides.
• Some forces go bust as they struggle to get rid of enough officers, without the ability to sack them.

Read the rest at the link below
TCPW Comment: I knew things were bad, but when you read about the effects of future police budget cuts in this ‘secret report’ written by the police chiefs you just know that things are going to get really bad!

And let me just remind you that just 6 years ago in September 2009 police officer strength in England and Wales stood at 144,833. In March this year was 126,818. The police chiefs reckon that this number could fall below 100,000 by 2020; the lowest level of police strength for over 50 years! And don’t forget that police staff numbers and PCSOs have also been cut by huge numbers.

The problem is that I don’t really see this present government changing its course and so whatever we might think of government policy it means that we’re going to have to do a lot more to protect ourselves from crime to lessen the workload on a shrivelling police service.

I’ve been scratching my head this morning about what could be done and so I’ve started a list. Here are just a few things to kick off with. Most are already being done to a greater or lesser extent, but it’s the greater extent we need now!

House Builders: Always build new homes at least to the Approved Document Q Building Regulations for security and preferably the police Secured by Design standards. Evidence shows us that home buyers actively look for homes that are already well secured and many are willing to pay just a little bit more for the best security.

Social Landlords: Stick with the ‘Secured by Design’ security standards promoted by the police service when building new homes and refurbishing older ones. Designing out crime opportunity will save you money in lower repair costs and helps you achieve carbon cost savings

Private Landlords: Many of you are making decent profits during this current housing shortage, so please reinvest some of your profit into providing a high standard of security for your tenants. Use the guidance on this website and refer to Approved Document Q when taking on a new property. Evidence proves beyond any doubt that a well-secured home makes for low crime, and satisfied tenants and tenants who are not victimised by crime will be more able to pay the rent.

Product Manufacturers: Do more about crime opportunity when you design and make new stuff, especially those who manufacture mobile phones, computers, bicycles, TVs and other products that are regularly stolen. Promote the security aspects of the product, because customers really want to know about them!

All of us: We can all do something about the thousands of unnecessary crimes that take place across these islands (not leaving stuff on view in a car to be stolen being one of the more obvious ones) and those of us with average means can install burglar alarms and fit decent locks to our doors and windows (and remember to use them!). In fact, we could easily slash property crime by more than 50% if we all ‘took the pledge’ to secure our homes and vehicles within the next 12 months.

I am concerned with those on low income though, because although they can practice sensible crime prevention measures they will often be reliant on others, especially a landlord, for a decent level of home security.

And we can also play our part by looking out for our neighbours, especially those who are elderly or vulnerable and a more active Neighbourhood Watch can play an important part in this important work.

Our personal security is also important too and there’s a huge amount we can do to keep ourselves safer and away from harm – moderate drinking being just one of them!

Government: As you remove our police officers and PCSOs from the street and reduce their support services perhaps you could balance this a little with a greater promotion of crime prevention in the national media. It’s been 6 years since ‘Don’t advertise your stuff to thieves (Bedtime)’ and the number of public information films on TV about preventing crime has fallen to an all-time low in the last decade.  

Never before has preventing crime been so important!

Original News Article: Mail Online: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3250532/We-broke-beat-Police-chiefs-warn-ministers-cuts-mean-t-job-threaten-stop-street-patrols-say-won-t-able-protect-public-rioters-terrorists.html