Don’t just write Press releases begging for cash, Rudd tells police
Get on with fighting crime, says Home Secretary
THE Home Secretary yesterday told police chiefs to stop lobbying for more cash and get on with fighting crime.
Amber Rudd said funding decisions must be made on ‘evidence, not assertion’, adding that she was fed up with force leaders ‘reaching for a pen’ to ask for extra money every time crime figures rose.
Mrs Rudd called on chief constables to put aside disagreements over how money was allocated and concentrate on plans to ‘cut crime’. Speaking to a summit of police leaders in London, the Home Secretary told them their job was more than just ‘lobbying’.
She said: ‘So when crime stats go up, I don’t just want to see you reaching for a pen to write a Press release asking for more money from the Government.
‘I want you to tell your local commu- nities and the victims in your area what your plan is to make them safer.’
Mrs Rudd said Whitehall officials must ‘critically evaluate’ every claim chief constables made for more funding. ‘We’ve always been clear that decisions about funding need to be based on evidence and not assertion,’ she added.
Her comments follow a number of recent incidents where police have been involved in silly stunts while crime figures have increased. Officers were criticised for garishly painting their nails, posing for photos in Halloween masks, bumper cars and stroking puppies for stress relief. Others posed in bear masks and, in one force, drug squads insisted on asking cannabis growers if they were victims of slavery.
Concerns about the level of police funding have been repeatedly raised amid an unprecedented terror threat and rising crime. They come ahead of this month’s budget and the highly anticipated police funding settlement before Christmas. Police chiefs warn they will not be able to respond to some offences and that frontline numbers are dwindling to record low levels.
On Tuesday, Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick said it was ‘incredible’ that her force was being asked to save hundreds of millions of pounds more.
In Avon and Somerset, senior officers claim they are at a ‘tipping point’ and in Northumbria the chief constable said the force is close to breaking point. But in a robust speech, Mrs Rudd highlighted that overall police spending will increase to £12.3 billion in 2019-20, the highest ever level.
She said the Government had made billions available to tackle terrorism and cyber security.
The Home Secretary added: ‘We appreciate that the increase in complex, investigatory work has put pressure on forces, as well as the efforts to deal with the unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks we’ve sadly seen this year.
‘But police financial reserves now amount to more than £1.6 bn and the independent inspectorate remains clear that there is more forces can do to transform, with greater efficiencies still available.’
Mrs Rudd’s blunt words recalled Theresa May’s famous confrontation of the Police Federation when she was Home Secretary.
Mrs May told the federation’s conference in 2014 that it must end its closed-shop culture or she would legislate against it.
Earlier, one of Britain’s most senior police officers warned that rises in recorded crime could not be dismissed as a ‘blip’.
Sara Thornton, who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said offences involving knives, guns and serious violence were increasing significantly. One political leader claimed some forces were ‘just inches away from viability’, with West Midlands Chief Constable David Thompson adding that the UK spent less on policing than New Zealand, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Canada and Norway.
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping said thousands of officers will be lost without more money.
He added: ‘It’s a bit rich for the Home Secretary to say “put your pens away now, lads”. There is actually a lot of sympathy in the Home Office for extra funding. Whether they can make that a successful bid across Government is another matter.’
THIS paper has reservations about the nakedly ambitious Remainer Home Secretary, Amber Rudd. But we applaud her robust message to police chiefs: when crime figures rise, focus on making the public safer – instead of merely pleading for extra cash.
Her advice could hardly be more timely, coming after the string of revelations about police wasting their time on fatuous gimmicks, such as painting their nails to show solidarity with modern slaves.
Meanwhile, an ever-widening range of crimes is left uninvestigated.
As for money, police chiefs squander millions on probing historic claims against long-dead celebrities. Yet still they sit on reserves of £1.6billion.
Indeed, if cash alone solved crime, there would be no problem. As it is, the solution lies in hard work by the country’s scores of thousands of dedicated officers. It’s up to their seniors to make proper use of them. IN a stunning tribute to Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms, the proportion of children being brought up in workless families has fallen below 10 per cent for the first time. Meanwhile, the Left-leaning Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds ‘austerity’ is likely to have little impact on those in greatest need, with absolute poverty remaining roughly unchanged. Doesn’t it become ever clearer that the real enemies of the poor are the champions of ever more welfare benefits – which of course lead only to hopeless dependency?