Police officers need to be ‘out talking to people’

POLICING needs police officers out there to talk to people and to enforce the law – and technology can only do so much, it has been warned

The force is “doing the best that we can with the resources we’re given”, said Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation.

The force has lost 600 police officers since 2007.

It has been branded one of the nine most inefficient police forces in the country by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.

“The HMRC keeps referring to knowing what your demand is and using IT better,” said Mr Bowles. “That and having an overview of how the cuts will affect the service. This is what we’ve been telling Government for ages now, at least five years, the fact that there needs to be a national overview before we can come to a local decision. What’s the point of doing things 43 different ways?”

Mr Bowles said that while the HMIC said the force would lose another 10% of officers over the next four years, it would be much more than that. “We’re already thinking of losing 300 to 400 officers, which is more like 20%,” he said.

In its inspection into police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy, the watchdog has told the force it “requires improvement” to meet the challenges of policing in austerity. It stated that it “has concerns that the force’s future plans and financial position may not be able to sustain effective policing in the long term”.

Nationally, HMIC said that maintaining neighbourhood policing is likely to be a “challenge” and that police officers will become “less visible” on Britain’s streets.

Mr Bowles concluded: “Policing isn’t a technology business, it’s a people business.

“You need people out there to talk to people and to enforce the law. We’re already seeing crime has risen for the last nearly a year now in South Yorkshire overall; violent, sexual and dishonesty offences are up.”