Beat Bobbies are dying out, warn police: Leaders say officers are ‘endangered species’ after three quarters of forces axed or merged neighbourhood teams
- Police Federation says forces are suffering in the wake of budget cuts
- Claim in many cases officers spend their time responding to emergencies
- Say younger generations only see officers if there’s been ‘a serious crime’
- Comments to be made in Federation’s latest anti-cuts salvo against the Government ahead of a speech by Home Secretary Theresa May
Bobbies on the beat are an ‘endangered species’ and could vanish altogether, police leaders will claim today.
The Police Federation says three-quarters of forces have axed or merged neighbourhood teams in the wake of budget cuts.
In many cases, police now spend their time responding only to emergencies – with younger generations only seeing an officer if there has been a ‘serious crime’, the group’s annual conference will be told.
The Police Federation say officers now spend their time responding only to emergencies – with younger generations only seeing an officer if there has been a ‘serious crime’ (file picture of officers in Weymouth)
In the Federation’s latest anti-cuts salvo against the Government, chairman Steve White will describe the ‘barren police landscape’ ahead of a speech by Home Secretary Theresa May.
Mr White’s remarks about the ‘death of the beat bobby’ will risk further inflaming tensions after Mrs May last year tore into the group in a speech that left the audience stunned.
The Federation has made a series of doom-laden warnings about the impact of the Government’s cuts – claiming they would deliver ‘Christmas for criminals’.
However, crime is currently at its lowest ever level and fell by a quarter during Mrs May’s first five years in the Home Office.
Re-opening hostilities, Mr White will tell rank-and-file officers in Bournemouth: ‘We are down to the bone and having to decide – neighbourhood policing or 999 calls?
Last year Home Secretary Theresa May accused officers of treating the public with ‘contempt’
‘Neighbourhood policing is the foundation of local confidence, trust and reassurance in communities that the police are there, that we will be there when needed, policing with their consent.
‘Neighbourhood policing – the source of so much information that stops the public from becoming victims of crime.
‘Neighbourhood policing keeps people safe. Neighbourhood policing prevents terrorist attacks on our country.
‘And now neighbourhood policing is just one of the endangered species in the new, streamlined, barren policing landscape.’
He will add: ‘A generation of young people is growing up never seeing their local police unless they are unfortunate enough to experience a serious crime. Is that the type of remote, faceless police service the public deserves?
‘Policing is about building relationships, not statistics – not computer says no, not Chancellor says no.’
The comments are likely to be seen as pay-back for Mrs May’s furious assault last year.
She accused officers of treating the public with ‘contempt’ over the way they dealt with victims of abuse and domestic violence and scrapped all Federation funding.
In today’s speech, Mrs May will pledge up to £15million on making sure people with mental health problems can be taken to safe facilities rather than police cells.
The Home Secretary will also say the law will be changed in the upcoming Queen’s Speech so that under-18s can no longer be detained under the Mental Health Act.