NEARLY a decade of cuts to policing is coming home to roost as forces across England and Wales are forced to triage the types of crime they can investigate.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation says it is screening crime, mirroring the tactics deployed by Greater Manchester Police as it tries to juggle resources and demand.<\/p>\n
GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said around 600 low-level crime incidents every day were not being investigated, simply because there are not enough officers to cope with demand.<\/p>\n
And South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent said less-serious offences are being screened.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe do have to sometimes screen and file the less serious offences and we have to prioritise incidents and crimes that involve threat, harm and risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it does sometimes leave the low-level thefts and the low-level criminal damage cases being put to one side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe disappointing thing, from a police officer\u2019s point of view, is that even though they\u2019re not as serious in terms of what they are, they\u2019re still serious to the victim.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re having to neglect that a little bit, to focus on the things that are going to protect people\u2019s actual lives and prevent severe offences against them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an inevitability in the cuts. We must prioritise. We don\u2019t have the resources to treat everything as we used to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know from my personal experience when we go to the low-level stuff; we sometimes get negativity from the public because they\u2019re saying, \u2018look, I\u2019ve called you so many times, I was on hold for so long\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong; they understand the situation we\u2019re in. But the public is frustrated. So the frontline is getting it in the neck from the public for what, essentially, is a central Government funding decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around 10% of the South Yorkshire frontline force strength was lost from 2015 to 2018, although a recruitment drive is now in place to replete the ranks, thanks to a local Council Tax precept increase.<\/p>\n
Steve added: \u201cWe\u2019re actively recruiting and to be fair to the Chief, he\u2019s trying to get the numbers addressed. Credit to him, he\u2019s doing a cracking job in trying to get those numbers back up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are moving in the right direction, as quickly as we can. But it could do with being quicker, and we could do with returning to the numbers, ideally, to what we had before the cuts and austerity.\u201d<\/p>\n