Exposed...the scandal of police funding crisis
THE Home Office does not know what resources police need to protect the public, a damning report reveals today.
Officials give cash to locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners who then decide spending priorities.
The Home Office has insisted throughout this summer, plagued by violence from rising knife and gun crime, that police forces have the resources they need to maintain law and order.
But the report by the National Audit Office claims civil servants do not “measure the extent and costs of all the demands”. It added: “Consequently, it [the Home Office] does not have a clear picture of what individual forces need to meet local and national demands”.
They warned there “are signs emerging that forces are finding it harder to deliver an effective service” and officials do “not know if the police system is financially sustainable”.
And the failure to take an “evidencebased” approach was heavily criticised. The report said: “It lacks a long-term plan for policing and significant gaps remain in its understanding of demand for police services and their costs.
John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, said: “This report echoes what we have been saying for some time and must serve as a wake-up call to the Government. For too long it has turned a blind eye to the crisis in policing that has occurred on its watch and is of its own making.
“Neighbourhood policing has all but vanished ... combined with the closure of hundreds of police station front counters. This is unsustainable.”
Police officer numbers have fallen to 122,404 – down 20,000 from 143,734 eight years ago. The number of police community support officers has also fallen, from 16,918 in 2010 to 10,139 this year.
While overall crime has fallen between March 2011 and March 2018, violent crime has increased.
Official figures for the 12 months to March revealed that the murder rate had surged by 12 per cent, while knife offences soared by 16 per cent, robberies were up by 30 per cent and sex offences by 24 per cent.
And the rising number of terrorism and child sexual exploitation investigations is putting “substantial demands” on police resources.
Meg Hillier MP, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Sustained funding cuts have resulted in almost a fifth fewer police officers and staff than eight years ago, yet the Government does not seem to understand the impact of this on local policing.
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, added: “If the Home Office does not understand what is going on it will not be able to direct resources to where they are needed, with the risk that the situation could get worse.”
A Home Office spokesman said it had “delivered a £460million increase in overall police funding”, adding that local accountability does not mean “we do not understand the demands on police forces”.