Thin blue line is getting thinner

Watchdog warns that just 10% of officers are free to tackle crime because majority are off or tied up on other duties - and that's before the cuts

Public, Tuesday 20 July 2010 10.54 BST

Police officers on the beat in Glasgow. Photograph: Garry F McHarg

A report by police watchdog Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) reveals just one in every 10 police officers is available to tackle crime at any one time despite year-on-year budget increases over the past four decades, a police watchdog warned today.

Sir Denis O'Connor, HM chief inspector of constabulary, said an average of only 11% of officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) are able to meet frontline demands.

He highlighted how in some forces only six in every 100 officers are on a duty visible to the public during peak Friday night hours while larger numbers work quiet Monday mornings.

The former Met assistant commissioner blamed the low availability on the reliance on PCSOs, who do not work after 8pm, as well as shift patterns, risk management, bureaucracy and increased niche posts.

O'Connor said the findings were further evidence of how the thin blue line must be radically redrawn if forces stand any chance of meeting huge cuts without damage to policing.

His comments came as a series of reports found police in England and Wales could save £1bn without cutting services, but a massive potential funding gap remains that many forces are not prepared for.

Reports by the Audit Commission, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Wales Audit Office found police could shave £1bn from central government funding of around £13.7bn.

Officials said money could be saved by more collaboration between forces, better shift patterns to match demand, cutting back office costs and more efficient procurement of national contracts. But they warned further cuts will inevitably reduce the number of officers on the beat and responding to emergencies unless there is a "total redesign" of how the police is run and overseen.

Michael O'Higgins, of the Audit Commission, said: "Better value for money in policing will be a challenge, but it is possible. Many police forces have shown how to save money and actually improve performance while maintaining public confidence - some have even done this with fewer police officers. And greater local scrutiny of police spending should help the higher-spending forces."

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sortedinnit1

22 Jul 2010, 11:58AM

This story is annoying me immensely. Police officers work longer days than your average person (shifts are on average 10 hours, often 12 hours), and consequently have fewer days at work - but we still work just as many (often many more) hours as everyone else, spread over the year. If the public want a 24-hour police service, then it has to be accepted that this will necessitate shift working.
Secondly, the idea that officers patrolling around on foot or in vehicles, in some way 'tackles crime' is nonsense. Visible policing prevents some crimes being committed in the area of visibility. But those criminals just go somewhere else, so unless the public are willing to pay for a police officer to stand on every street corner in the UK, this is not an effective way to tackle crime - it's just lazy thinking.
Thirdly, walking or driving around on patrol is of absolutely no use in solving crimes that have already been committed - to do that we need people in offices and labs doing the research necessary - collecting and looking at the evidence so that criminals can be identified and convicted.
Fourthly - a large number of the officers identified as being 'off the street' in the report are actually police and civilians employed in custody suites to take care of the welfare of people who have been arrested for crimes. I'm sure every single person in the uk would hope that, should they be arrested for any reason (and not everyone who is arrested is ultimately found to be guilty of an offence), they would also want their own welfare ensured.
Lastly, any really effective crime prevention strategy is going to involve very costly, very long-term, and very early interventions. Until the public is willing to pay for this, it will have to accept a less costly, but still very expensive, police service.
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