We can’t take any more cutbacks, warns top cop
We cannot keep taking money from the forces policing the most challenging communities ...It doesn’t make sense. Sir Dave Thompson
RETIRING CHIEF SLAMS GAP IN FUNDING BETWEEN WEST MIDS & ‘LEAFIER AREAS‘
DEPARTING West Midlands Police boss Sir Dave Thompson has sent a harsh message to the Government over funding for his force, saying he is ‘‘worried’’ of the impact of any more cuts on his officers’ ability to fight crime.
He says the gap in funds between here and forces operating in ‘‘leafier’’ areas is ‘‘astronomical’.’
Mr Thompson, who retires next month, spoke of his ‘‘worry going forward’’ if more public spending cuts land on the region’s embattled force. With crime rates rising and demand increasing, further cuts could be difficult to absorb.
His comments come as new data shows a dramatic surge in recorded crimes locally – up 22% across the force, with big rises in violence and sex offences. At the same time the force is under fire for slow responses to callouts via its 101 and Live Chat lines and around clear-up rates.
He said: “We have to work
harder in the West Midlands than any other force – it is nowhere near as well funded as other forces and as it needs to be. The gap is astronomical.
“I can’t see why we have so much less than forces like Merseyside and Greater Manchester.”
It ‘‘made no sense’’ for forces in leafier areas (like Surrey and Cumbria) to emerge better from funding cuts than more challenged innercity forces.
New analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies points out that the West Midlands force is the most poorly funded in the country based on need, he said.
The findings revealed that the Liverpool-based Merseyside force gets 17% more funding – the equivalent of £120 million a year, while the ‘‘less deprived and lower crime’’ area of Greater Manchester receives £30 million more.
“With the likely public spending cuts coming up, I am worried about the force going forward.
“We cannot keep taking money from the forces policing the most challenging communities – while not particularly affecting those that police the leafier parts of the country. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Speaking ahead of his departure next month from the force he has served as Deputy Constable and then Chief Constable for 12 years, Mr Thompson said that austerity cuts had been a constant backdrop. “Navigating the force through (those years of austerity) and being able to modernise it has been the biggest challenge in this job. The force lost a quarter of its budget from 2010-2018,” he said.
He praised the uplift of extra officers (part of a Government initiative to increase policing numbers again after huge cuts) as “brilliant” but said more help was needed.