Cuts have led to soaring workloads for police officers

CUTS to policing have left workloads soaring and pressure intensifying for the officers that remain, the Shadow Home Secretary recognised at Police Federation Conference this week.

Andy Burnham has called for the police service to unite to build a “trusted and resilient police service for the 21st century”.

Speaking at the Police Federation of England and Wales annual conference he called for a “credible and costed plan” for a “vision for the future of policing”.

But he reiterated his call to remove the time limit on the period after leaving a force that a retired officer can be investigated for misconduct.

He said: “We need to build common cause on the goal that should, at the end of the day, unite us all – how to build a trusted and resilient police service for the 21st century.

“And as officers have gone, those left to pick up the pieces have found their workloads soaring and pressure intensifying. Over a quarter are now working more than 49 hours a week, beyond the legal limit. Things can’t carry on like this. Something will have to give.”

Mr Burnham (pictured) said Labour would review the sustainability of keeping 43 forces in England and Wales, and the Police Federation should be involved in any sweeping reorganisation.

He said: “My instincts say that that an imposed top-down reorganisation is not the way to go. Instead, a better way to approach it might be to consider what policing functions would better sit across a number of force areas and then invite collaborative approaches to achieve it.

“The offer is to work with you to get this right. I don’t think we can turn our face away from sensible structural changes that might improve the service to the public. But I would rather those ideas came bottom-up rather than top-down.”

Mr Burnham dismissed Home Secretary Theresa May’s plans to increase the number of volunteers to help with cyber and financial crime, saying “a Dad’s Army of retired accountants does not amount to a vision for the future of policing, nor an answer to the complex challenges of online crime and fraud”.

He added: “Where is the credible and costed plan for policing, the 10-year vision? In the absence of it, people will continue to feel uncertain about where the police is heading and morale will continue to sink.”