Police 'rationing' putting public at risk

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary has warned that police forces struggling with cutbacks are putting the public at risk by rationing their responses. Although the paper, PEEL: police effectiveness 2016, reported that most of the 43 forces in England and Wales were providing a good service, it warned that others were not doing the basics, with too many crimes being shelved without proper investigation. The report highlighted that 67,000 people suspected of crimes were not entered onto the police national computer. Among other measures that were considered putting public safety in jeopardy, Hertfordshire, Humberside and Nottinghamshire forces were recorded as having not ‘responded appropriately’ to emergency calls during inspections, while Devon and Cornwall, Hampshire and Sussex were criticised for assessing domestic abuse victims over the phone rather than face-to-face. The Constabulary also warned there was now a ‘national crisis’ caused by a shortage of detectives - emphasising that the Metropolitan Police force was short by 700 - leading to excessive workloads and unnecessary stress for investigators. Budgets have reportedly fallen by 22 per cent in five years, contributing to a loss of 32,000 officers and staff. Zoe Billingham, the lead inspector, said: “We are leading to a very serious conclusion regarding the potentially perilous state of British policing. Over the last few years, HMIC has said consistently that police forces were managing well in increasingly difficult circumstances. Nonetheless, today, I'm raising a red flag to warn forces of the consequences of what is, to all intents and purposes, an unconscious form of rationing.”