Now police say they have to catch bus to catch criminals

POLICE are catching buses to investigate crimes because of a shortage of cars, it has emerged.

Staff at one station complain there are only two vehicles shared among dozens of detectives. And one officer has apparently retired rather than chase criminals without a car.

Meanwhile a rural police force has announced it is now asking recreational horseriders to patrol the countryside.

The latest money-saving ventures come after it was revealed that officers in the West Midlands were having to stick to speed limits when attending emergencies as their cars don’t have sirens. And earlier this year, Leicestershire Police introduced a pilot scheme in which attempted burglaries at odd-numbered houses were not fully investigated.

In London, one family was sur-- prised to see detectives arrive at their home by bus after a death. The detectives, who were based at Lewisham, said cuts and main-tenance delays had left them with only two pool cars. ‘They told us that if they have to go out on an inquiry they have to use the bus now,’ said one relative. ‘He said they could use their own personal vehicles but the paperwork meant it wasn’t worth it. You have to ask if it is the best way to spend their time, sitting on a bus?’

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has now fired a warning shot as ministers draw up plans for further budget cuts of up to 40 per cent across Whitehall.

In response to a sergeant in East London who said staff were ‘virtually broken’, he wrote on a Scotland Yard message board: ‘The time has come to fight our corner. Watch this space.’

First, police complain they can’t fight crime effectively… because too few of their cars have sirens! Now they go one better, saying budgets are so small they have to travel to crime scenes by bus.

shouldn’t this shroud-waving be taken with a hefty pinch of salt?

In the real world, fleets of wailing patrol cars attend even minor accidents, police helicopters whirr over city centres – and 7,000 officers appear to be available to police one, rain-soaked london carnival.

Not enough cash for sirens and flashy cars? Weren’t our streets better policed when officers’ chief modes of transport were boots and the bicycle?