Slimming down the police force

It has been suggested that a Home Office report due out next week will reveal a fall in the number of serving police officers. A reduction of 1,000 officers has been suggested. The Association of Police Authorities are warning that the number of reductions could be 6,000 over the next three years, while Chief Police Officers are suggesting that an extra 7,000 are needed, merely to maintain what they are doing.

Why this may happen is clear. The Comprehensive Spending Review last autumn cut the requested rise in police spending from 8% to 5%. As much of the police spending is on staff, - estimates vary, but it is at least 60% of all spending, there was always going to be a problem. Spending on PCSOs, Police Community Support Officers is "ring fenced", and therefore not reducible, and as PCSOs are "cheaper to employ" it is understandable if police forces attempt to deal with a funding problem by replacing retiring constables with support officers.

So we have classroom assistants instead of more qualified teachers, and we may well have more police support officers doing duties in the community, when most of us want a fuller police presence on our streets.

This is no criticism of classroom assistants or support officers, but they are generally less well qualified, and in the case of support officers have had less training and have fewer powers.

It seems that this Government wants to have teaching and policing on the cheap. It is little wonder that we have a Home Secretary afraid to walk at night in London!