At the Police Federation annual conference, Home Secretary Theresa May denied that the police are being singled out for cuts.
She said: ‘I know how worried you are about the cuts. I know how angry some of you are. I know the difficulties that spending cuts will mean.<br><br>’But let’s remember why weโve got to do this. We have just been through the gravest financial crisis since the Second World War. We now face the biggest budget deficit in our peacetime history.'<br><br>Mrs May told the policing rank and file body that a review of police pay and conditions by Tom Winsor โ which is being considered by the Police Negotiating Board โ will make them ‘fair to you and fair to the taxpayer’.<br><br>She said that while the service will be modernised, bureaucracy cut and chief constables helped to make savings in the back office, police pay has to be part of a package of savings.<br><br>’I am sure that every single person in this room โ and indeed members of the public outside it – would prefer us to look at pay and conditions rather than lose thousands of posts,’ she said. At her second Police Federation Conference as Home Secretary, Mrs May praised the efforts of the ‘finest police officers in the world’.<br><br>’Our police don’t strut around with hand guns and dark glasses,’ she said, ‘you get out into the community’ and ‘treat people fairly’.<br><br>’For that, every single person in this country owes you an enormous debt of gratitude,’ and, she concluded, ‘I trust you to get the job done.’
Earlier the federation chairman Paul McKeever said: "Wherever you go you will hear British police officers referred to with the highest regard. Everywhere that is except within this coalition government.
A government that possesses such a degree of antipathy towards the police service that it is happy to denigrate officers routinely through its friends in the media and press.
"Police officers who, day in, day out, are committing acts of real heroism, bravery and compassion have been dismissed by this government as no more than people not worth their salt. We have heard you in the past praising police officers for the work we do and the bravery we exhibit. However, these words appear to be no more than platitudes and ring hollow. They are no more than a sprinkling of sugar to disguise the very bitter reality of your true intentions.
"We hope when you address conference shortly that you donโt try to follow the same deceit because it is not something that anybody here today wants to hear. Home Secretary before I go in to the detail of my speech there are a couple of areas that I must touch upon that have at best puzzled and at worse angered police officers. The first is Libya and Yvonne Fletcher. The second is The Home Officeโs fascination, almost obsessive fascination, with policing in New York.
How could we possibly find ourselves in the position of the Home Office granting visas to Libyan Police officers to study in this country?"
Later he went on: "Police officers can smell unfairness and under-handedness at a thousand metres. Home Secretary, this stinks.
A report by CIVITAS, the right of centre think tank and no enemy of your government, carried out research that showed a direct correlation between police numbers and the level of crime in countries across Europe. They also used a technique that we have used as well. Instead of looking the total number of police in each country they looked at the number of police per 100,000 of the population.
This is a more accurate assessment of police officer numbers, rather than crude total figures that have risen over the years.
When commentators say that police officer numbers have gone up since 1991 they fail to take into account that we have also had a major rise in population in the UK. So, the police officer per 100,000 ratios gives a much more accurate picture … in England and Wales we have around 257 police officers per 100,000 of the population, putting us well down the European Policing League Table, down in the bottom third.
"If the cuts in numbers are introduced we will fall below 215 police officers per 100,000; lower than the dark days of the 1970โs when policing was in meltdown and when we had far fewer responsibilities than we do today. This figure will leave only three very high crime countries below us in the European Police Officer per 100,000 League Table.
And he ended: "Home Secretary, today I have not just been addressing you.
"My message today is also to all those communities we serve, day in and day out. Revealing to them the truth behind a government that pretends to be reforming the police service while it is in fact punishing police officers and the communities they serve with total disregard for the consequences.
I appeal to everyone in the country. Save your police service from the recklessness inherent within this governmentโs cavalier and ill-conceived policies." For the full Paul McKeever speech visit www.polfed.org.
