The pandemic provided new opportunities for criminals, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary has said in his annual report. Sir Thomas Winsor gave a warning about the much trumpeted Boris Johnson Government promise of recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers by 2023 – trumpeted most recently in the Home Office’s ‘Beating Crime Plan’ launched last month. Sir Tom described the extra 20,000 as ‘undoubtedly a good thing, but it also heightens the danger that people unsuited to policing – including those with extremist or racist views – may be recruited’.
He added that the quality of vetting needs to be consistently high, and Directorates of Professional Standards should be staffed by some of the best detectives. Sir Tom made a point beyond policing that unless the health and social care system is fixed and people can get the support they need, more people will continue to be vulnerable and enter the criminal justice system unnecessarily. The prison system makes vulnerable people even more vulnerable, the report stated.
Sir Tom said: “The pandemic provided new opportunities for criminals and showed how essential it is that our public services work well together. It is highly regrettable that new legislation and lockdown restrictions made certain people more vulnerable and limited access to support services. As a result, many more people may have been suffering, and this will have led to increased demand on the police.
“For policing to be effective, the wider criminal justice system and other public services must also be as effective as possible. If they are not, many more people may be drawn to crime, enter into cycles of offending, become victims, and lose confidence in policing.
“I am disappointed on behalf of the public that so little has been done to fix the perilous state of the criminal justice system and failing mental health services. The Government’s next spending review will provide an opportunity to put right many of the problems in policing, and the other public sector agencies must do much more to match the commitment of the police service to protecting people from harm.”
For the report, State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2020, visit the HMIC website.
The inspectorate like many others went over to remote working, using video conferencing rather than face to face visiting. The report stated that police adapted well to new ways of working. The report noted that the pandemic ‘provided organised crime groups in particular with new opportunities to enlarge and diversify their activities in ways which caused further severe harm to the public’, notably online: such as selling counterfeit, unregulated and substandard personal protective equipment and using crypto-assets, such as Bitcoin, to launder money.
Comment
For the National Police Chiefs’ Council, NPCC Chair, Martin Hewitt said that the report recognised the “exemplary” response from policing to the covid pandemic. “Officers and staff across the country have worked incredibly hard, with creativity and innovation to meet the challenges and continue to protect the public.
“The report also rightly recognises the pressure on the criminal justice system and mental health services and the serious impact this has for society and the additional demand it places on policing.
“We are actively supporting greater coordination and collaboration across policing and other parts of the public sector. We endorse the recommendation for multi-year funding settlements – policing will be more efficient and effective as a result.
“High standards in recruitment and vetting are essential in bringing the best into policing and preventing anyone unsuitable from joining us. We will be engaging with HMICFRS to understand their concerns about current recruitment and vetting risks as we don’t recognise the description of these systems failing in too many cases.”
