Another Period Of Austerity Would ‘Destroy Policing’

POLICING would be “completely and utterly destroyed” by another period of austerity, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng told the Conservative Party Conference that there would be no more money for public services to cope with the rise in inflation.

But South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent (pictured) said that there must be real investment in policing to reverse years of austerity measures.

He said: “Austerity measures decimated policing, and even now it’s still quite severely fractured. The only way we’re going to deal with that, as well as replacing the officers who have been lost over the past 12 years, is substantial investment going forward.

“So if the financial crisis is hinting at a return to a level of austerity or reining in departments like the Home Office, then the Government has got to think twice about it.

“Because, coupled with police pay being so poor and the working conditions being so absolutely dire across the board, I think we are genuinely going to start seeing officers either having major issues due to stress or leaving.

“And if that starts, there’s going to be a domino effect and we’ll get to a position where policing goes from fractured to completely and utterly destroyed.

“We’re at a crossroads, because yes, these cops are coming in and they’re very welcome. But we cannot continue at the red line like we are doing. There needs to be some real investment in policing.”

He added: “There also needs to be Government intervention on what policing is expected to do. We are not only the police, we’re the NHS, we’re social services, we’re mental health support as well.

“We cannot keep carrying the can for organisations across the board, who themselves are struggling, so there needs to be a real look into what policing is and what policing should be about.”