POLICING would be \u201ccompletely and utterly destroyed\u201d by another period of austerity, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent (pictured) said that there must be real investment in policing to reverse years of austerity measures.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cAusterity measures decimated policing, and even now it\u2019s still quite severely fractured. The only way we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause, 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if that starts, there\u2019s going to be a domino effect and we\u2019ll get to a position where policing goes from fractured to completely and utterly destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at a crossroads, because yes, these cops are coming in and they\u2019re very welcome. But we cannot continue at the red line like we are doing. There needs to be some real investment in policing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThere also needs to be Government intervention on what policing is expected to do. We are not only the police, we\u2019re the NHS, we\u2019re social services, we\u2019re mental health support as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n