POLICE officers now spend just half their working hours on the beat following Government cuts, HMIC has warned.<\/p>\n
The watchdog said overstretched officers are no longer able to spend much time working in communities to prevent crime.<\/p>\n
Instead they are busy staffing front counters, processing prisoners and guarding crime scenes, HMIC said.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police was judged good at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour and tackling serious and organised crime \u2013 but was warned it needs to improve the way it manages offenders and investigates crime.<\/p>\n
Overall it was rated as \u2018requiring improvement\u2019 at keeping people safe and reducing crime.<\/p>\n
One of the issues highlighted was the length of time it takes officers to respond to crimes because of how busy they are.<\/p>\n
HMIC inspector Mike Cunningham said: \u201cHMIC judged that overall South Yorkshire Police needs to improve how it reduces crime and keeps people safe. In particular, the force needs to ensure that it responds with appropriate promptness to reports of crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cHMIC was concerned to find that due to high levels of demand, officers are not able to pursue investigative opportunities consistently in a timely way.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers are becoming frustrated and we are concerned that evidential opportunities may be lost along with the confidence of victims and witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across England and Wales, more than 18,500 frontline officers\u00a0have been axed since 2010, along with a similar number of back office police staff.<\/p>\n
Many Bobbies now say they spend just 50% of their time out and about on the streets, HM Inspector of Constabulary Zoe Billingham revealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the rest of the time they are tucked away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing worthy stuff no doubt – but not visible, not doing their core role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Billingham said Britain risks \u201csleepwalking\u201d back to the days of 1980s-style policing, before Labour introduced thousands of neighbourhood cops to work with local communities.<\/p>\n
And she said this could lead to rising crime and anti-social behaviour, and make it harder to spot potential terrorists.<\/p>\n
She added: “Front-line neighbourhood police officers have told us repeatedly that they are being pulled from their vitally important preventative work in communities to fulfil other duties, like guarding crime scenes, spending time in stations investigating crimes or staffing police station front counters.<\/p>\n
“Losing our eyes and ears in the community is only likely to hamper good performance in preventing crime.”<\/p>\n
Policing minister Mike Penning said: “Police reform is working and crime has fallen by more than a quarter since 2010, according to the independent crime survey for England and Wales.”<\/p>\n
He said the government had made policing “more professional, less bureaucratic for officers and more responsive to victims”.<\/p>\n