TO THE END TIME TO PUT Murdered LIVES FIRST cop’s sister tells of her heartache as 10 men are quizzed
Andrew had signed up for a 20-mile 200-obstacle race which he had hoped to complete in May next year to raise money for a children’s cancer charity.
He had created a fundraising page with a £500 target for the Dirty Weekend r ace in Peterborough, Cambs.
Andrew had written: “Nobody deserves to experience the devastating impacts of cancer, but especially not children. Wherever possible, please support me in this goal.”
A flood of donations has now taken the total amount raised to more than £7,600 on the Virgin Money Giving site in aid of Children with Cancer UK.
One person wrote: “Sincere condolences to a young man who was just doing his job and who had just started the next chapter of his life as a married man. My heart breaks for his wife, parents and brother.”
Another added: “A tragic and senseless loss of somebody who was committed to the community and creating a safer place.”
The Police Roll of Honour Trust, which commemorates fallen officers, said Andrew’s service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
Reading Football Club will pay tribute to Andrew with a minute’s silence ahead of today’s home game against Cardiff.
Det Supt Ailsa Kent, of Thames Valley Major Crime Unit, said: “A postmortem was carried out on Andrew’s body and the cause of death has been recorded as multiple injuries.
“The cause of death is consistent with our current belief that Andrew was caught between a vehicle and the road then dragged for a distance.
“Within an hour of the incident happening, we arrested ten males aged between 13 and 30 on suspicion of murder. I can confirm that the males were arrested from a local authorityrun caravan and mobile home site near Burghfield Common.
“Earlier today we sought a 36- hour extension to their detention and this was granted at Reading magistrates court.”
Forensic teams yesterday erday spent hours scouring the traveller raveller site three miles from the crossroads where PC Harper was s killed.
Detectives were analysing CCTV, doing scientific ic tests and gathering witness statements. ements.
Thames Valley deputy puty police and crime commissioner er Matthew Barber rejected calls for officers to be routinely armed. d.
ay EARLY on Friday I was made aware of the tragic death of PC Andrew Harper.
My thoughts were immediately with his family, friends and colleagues.
News of a serving officer losing their life is always heartbreaking. And we’ve since seen the public outpouring of grief and support.
Policing is a job like no other. You see the worst life has to offer and sometimes the best – and everything in between. And we do so shoulder-toshoulder with our colleagues, one of the unique things that binds us so closely together.
I regularly use the expression “police family” – we are brothers and sisters bound by duty, and by the knowledge that an attack on one is an attack on us all.
Like any family, when we lose one of our own we grieve. We get angry at the futile waste.
Police officers do extraordinary things every day – protect the vulnerable, comfort the frightened, find the lost, and – as the old policing saying goes – “stand between the monsters and the weak”.
There has been a great deal of debate recently on the risks police officers face. The latest statistics indicate assaults on police are rising.
They show 85 officers a day are assaulted across England and Wales – but we believe that is just the tip of the iceberg.
A look at social media gives a sense of what my members face.
Bitten, kicked, butted, stamped on, spat at and worse.
As for the sentences handed out for such acts – many walk smirking from court with no more than a slap on the wrist, while my colleagues must live with the consequenceconsequences and the mental toll.
Yeyears of auausterity, and disdaind towardt policing from the last la Prime Minister,m haveha taken their toll.t
Since 2010, we have lost almost 22,000 officers, 80 per cent from frontline roles.
There simply are not enough officers to keep themselves – and our communities – safe.
How can balancing a spreadsheet be more important than that?
Our new PM has made bold promises but we need details. Yes 20,000 more officers will have an effect, but it will take time for that to be tangible – and it must be accompanied by significant investment.
I became a police officer to make a difference and to help people. And I became the National Chair of the Police Federation to make a difference for our harhard-working, devotedevoted officers.
To enensure they are best prprotected, as they protect the public.
I’ll neverne stop saying it how it is, doing my best to make life better for thosthose dedicated men and wowomen.
Societysocie must now say enough is enough – and do all it can to protect
our protectors.
There are not enough officers to keep them, and
us all, safe