Police resources ‘drained to dangerously low levels’, say former top officers

he five former top police officers in Britain have attacked the Conservatives’ record on crime, saying that “resources drained to dangerously low levels” have contributed to a “feeling of lawlessness” and saying confidence in the police has to be urgently restored.

The attack came from a string of commissioners of the Metropolitan police, Britain’s biggest force, who claimed the crisis was so deep that “the public have perilously low expectations of the police today”.

The letter is signed by Lord Condon, Lord Stevens, Lord Blair, Sir Paul Stephenson and Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. It says: “The reduction of police and support staff by more than 30,000, the virtual destruction of neighbourhood policing and the inadvisable undermining of lawful police powers such as stop and search, have taken their toll. Common sense suggests that these factors have contributed to the feeling of lawlessness generated by knife murders and ‘county lines’ drugs.”

The letter, published in the Times, warns of an “emasculation of British policing” in recent years and says a royal commission is needed.

It was the latest warning about the crisis in policing, with the chief inspector of constabulary also warning on Thursday that policing is under huge strain, struggling to meet rising demand and that radical reform is needed as well as more officers.

In his annual state of policing report, Sir Tom Winsor said the criminal justice system was, in parts, failing, and said solutions lay in more rehabilitation, more crime prevention, and increased innovation and efficiency.

After years of funding cuts resulting in 20,000 fewer police officers, the chief inspector, who is deeply unpopular among many rank and file officers, who view him as the executor of the Tories’ police cuts, said they had influenced crime levels.

Read the full story here: (Source: The Guardian)