Policing on the cheap fear as civilians probe major crimes

Rapid rise in non-force investigators used ‘to fill vacancies’ across the country costs millions

POLICE are relying on an increasing number of civilians to investigate major crimes including homicides and sexual assault, prompting fears that potential prosecutions could be compromised.

Figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under Freedom of Information legislation from 10 police forces reveal hundreds of civilian staff have been trained to work on serious investigations, including child abuse and terror- ism offences. The Metropolitan Police and Merseyside Police admitted hiring retired detectives to solve crimes in an echo of the BBC TV series New Tricks in which former police officers are brought back to solve difficult cases.

Other forces have signed contracts worth millions of pounds a year with recruitment agencies to source civilian investigators, blaming government cuts for a shortage of officers.

MPs expressed concern about the increases, which are revealed after government figures showed prosecutions have reached an all-time low despite crime soaring to a record high.

The Metropolitan Police, the country’s biggest force, said its numbers of civilian investigators had doubled in the past six years from 21 to 42, costing the force nearly £2million a year.

West Midlands Police reported a 20fold increase in civilian investigators, to a total of 126.

Tim Loughton, a senior Conservative member of the home affairs select committee, said the figures were “deeply worrying and surely unsustainable” and questioned why forces were relying on “here today gone tomorrow amateur sleuths”. Tim Farron MP, the former Lib Dem leader, said: “This is policing on the cheap.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The deployment of police officers and police staff is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of each force.”

AN INVESTIGATION by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered large increases in the number of civilian investigators working in police forces.

It comes amid escalating criticism of cuts to policing budgets under the Conservative Government, notably when Theresa May was home secretary between 2010 and 2016.

The Sunday Telegraph surveyed all 43 police forces in England and Wales using the Freedom of Information Act. Many refused to provide information citing costs to compile the information, while others refused to reveal “sensitive operational capabilities”.

The Metropolitan Police, the coun- try’s biggest force, said its numbers of civilian investigators had doubled in the past six years from 21 to 42 – more than half are retired detectives – at a cost of nearly £2million a year.

A spokesman said the civilians had been necessary “to fill vacancies” and were “working in the counter terrorism, child abuse and sexual offences and cybercrime commands”.

West Midlands Police reported a 20fold increase in civilian investigators – now costing £1.2million a year – from six to 126 over the past six years, including 77 working in CID on “a wide variety of crimes ranging from missing people to vehicle and drug crime”.

West Mercia and Warwickshire Police also recorded big increases, with numbers doubling in five years to 52 in Warwickshire and increasing 20-fold to 20 in West Mercia.

Staffordshire Police reported a near doubling from 48 to 89 between 2014 and 2018.

Merseyside Police had hired two retired detectives to work on major crimes, and a new Homicide Support Unit “goes live in October this year”.

Norfolk Constabulary said it had 77 “members of police staff with designated investigative powers” while Suffolk Constabulary employed 72 civilians with investigative powers.

Lancashire Police said it now had 134 civilian investigators on its books and had agreed a contract with Reed Talent Solutions worth £1.2million a year.

Tim Farron, the former Liberal Democrat leader, added: “They seem to be doing it because it is much cheaper than investing in CID, which is what forces need to do.

“Could you imagine if they did this with nurses? Imagine patients were being looked after by retired nurses and people who have never been nurses.”

But Gareth Wilson, the chief constable of Suffolk Constabulary, said: “Rather than being concerned about the rise in the use of civilian investigators we are pleased, as they hugely increase and diversify the skills, knowledge and expertise available to us.”