Chair To New PM: Fund The Police Properly

HAMPSHIRE Police Federation’s message to new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is: “Increase funding so that we can deal with the demand. We can’t investigate all the crime because there aren’t enough officers.”

Tackling crime is reported to be one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities, but Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoë Wakefield said that in order to do this to the best of their ability, forces needed proper funding and less bureaucracy.

Zoë said: “During the Conservative leadership election, Rishi Sunak said, ‘Policemen should be fully focused on fighting crime and not policing Twitter jokes’. Firstly, why did he refer to officers as ‘policemen’, excluding 35% of the workforce?

“But I think most police officers would agree with his point. That’s why we all became police officers, to help victims of crime and lock up the bad guys. Officers get a lot of satisfaction from charging those responsible for crimes and seeing them punished and getting justice for the victims. But in order to do this, forces need funding and we need to reduce the amount of bureaucracy, particularly around court files and disclosure.

“Ultimately, the Government needs to increase funding so that we can adequately deal with the demand and the crime that’s being reported. We can’t investigate all the crime because there aren’t enough officers.”