Why are we cutting police officers etc?

[MrsT]

We all know that savings are necessary so why are we not looking at our largest bill by far? Instead we cut coppers etc. 120Bn on the welfare bill that's the target. Useless layers of management the civil service, NHS etc. Stop all free dosh, feed them they won't starve. Coppers on the beat we need them, sack the kin hierarchy if you must. That goes across the board. Kin NHS have got more sh1tbag empire building leaches than they have beds. start there! Cut the usless part of the public sector the 700,000 useless nothing jobs created by Blair. please stop cutting the goood guys!

[birdie1971]

If your average criminal knew just how few front-line coppers there are on any one shift, they'd have a field day. Reducing the numbers even further will have serious ramifications for law abiding citizens of this country.

This is a crazy idea.

[Ankou]

actaully i don't think it is merely the front line coppers, you are fogetting about the 'back room specialists' for domestic violence and child protection who are not 'on the beat' but are more likely to be affected - as nobody 'sees' them and therefore the viewing public wont notice so much.

[LoftyLottie]

Like Ankou I read that the front line coppers are not being reduced in number, but there will be less ancilliary services provided by the police, as he says. They will respond to emergency calls but all the neighbourhood watch liaison, etc. will cease.

[jake-the-peg]

Yeah lets stop cutting the good guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqIH2EZMkFA

[jake-the-peg]

If anybody missed it this was a 59 year-old woman arrested after being found asleep in a car.

CCTV caught her being beaten up in the police cell

This was the result

http://img.thesun.co....mela-380_1120878a.jpg

The copper was finally convicted (it happened in 2008) of Assault - If you or I did that it would be GBH IMHO

He was a 6'3" ex-soldier (er sorry I mean hero) abusing a position of authority in assaulting a 5'2" woman

He got 6 months

[MrsT]

was that the drunk driver jake?

[birdie1971]

So the cuts will only be the 'back-room staff' eh? If you reduce the amount of support that front-line coppers have, who do you think will end up doing these 'back-room' jobs? The answer must be your everyday copper. But if they're stuck in the station dealing with issues such as domestic violence, child protection, rape investigations, etc. who's out on the streets?

The fact is, you cannot cut that many staff without an inevitable knock on effect that will affect the number of police on our streets.

The Government's claim that front-line coppers will be unaffected is at best wishful thinking or at worst, blatant lies.

[Ankou]

nobody said 'only the back room staff'.

[eyethenkyew]

Police Forces have long been top heavy with staff warming chairs at desks while the remaining few get left to rush around the streets like blue ass flies. Even at that, though, the main reason for the lack of Police on the streets is, and has been for many years, the welter of reports and paperwork imposed upon them by successive governments.

Thus, the proposed cuts will not only affect Police numbers on the streets, because you can bet your bottom dollar that the paperwork won't also be cut. So, there will be an inevitable knock on effect whereby case files etc will be piled up sky high awaiting completion, as a result of which numerous court cases will be delayed and the whole criminal justice system will all but grind to a halt.

Politicians, i.e. the government etc, have the powers to alleviate the situation, but won't. So nothing will improve, just the opposite in fact, and we the great British public will put up with it, as we always do?

[Canary42]

What do you expect with a Toff and a Turncoat in charge ?

[birdie1971]

Ankou - “nobody said 'only the back room staff'”

You're splitting hairs. You said, “you are fogetting about the 'back room specialists' for domestic violence and child protection who are not 'on the beat' but are more likely to be affected - as nobody 'sees' them and therefore the viewing public wont notice so much.”...

… which pretty much equates to the same thing – you're saying that cuts in areas other than front-line policing will not be noticed by the public.

As an ex-copper, I can assure you that they will.

[wheaten]

Husband is worried. He is a 'response' officer rather than a beat officer so is paid more for what 'might' happen (no, I don't know what he does either!). No job, no pay, no house. He doesn't half go on about how he'll lose his job and it worries me too. Bet the royals and the mps won't offer to give up their security!

Wheaten

[Dodger666]

If cuts in police funding results in fewer Bobbies on the beat we won't notice any difference where I live as we never see a Bobbie on the beat now.