Message To Politicians: Policing Needs Investment

Forces are struggling with resources and they need sustained investment: that is Hampshire Police Federation’s message to politicians during the party conference season.

Experienced officers were leaving policing, Federation Chair Zoë Wakefield said, adding that in Hampshire, officers with fewer than three years’ service were tutoring brand new recruits.

She said: “My message to politicians is that we need sustained investment in policing. I’m pretty sure Chief Constables would agree with me, that all police forces need bigger budgets. We need to keep recruiting and we need to attract people to policing, which then links into paying us according to the training that we have, the risks that we take.

“Even though we’ve all recruiting, a lot of forces still aren’t back to the numbers they were at in 2010, and a lot of those officers are still training or doing part-training. And at the same time, demand has gone up, so we are still struggling with resources.”

Zoë said that it was good that there were new, enthusiastic officers in the force, but added: “We are severely lacking in experience, because the experienced officers are leaving.”

She continued: “Politicians and leaders need to look at how we can retain that experience in policing, because it’s going to be five, 10 years before that new influx of officers are experienced. We’ve got supervisors with hardly any service. We’ve got firearms officers with hardly any service.

“Within our response teams, the officers with three years’ service are seen as the most experienced. We’ve got officers with fewer than three years’ service, tutoring brand new officers. I think it’s the same across the country. So investment is key across the board.”