A RETURN to austerity would break policing, with both officers and the public suffering, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said ahead of the autumn budget.<\/p>\n
It has been reported that fighting crime is one of new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak\u2019s top priorities, but the budget on 17 November is likely to include public spending cuts.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cWe cannot return to austerity, we need to grow policing. Policing is fractured and if there are any further cuts it will break wide open, we\u2019ll see stress go through the roof. We still start breaking officers and we will start breaking police forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a return to austerity, the reality is that the public would suffer massively because we just would not have the resources to go and deal with what we deal with now. Also, we are the reserve function for all the other public services when they can\u2019t manage their demand \u2013 we have to go and plug the gaps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would absolutely fall apart, and we would then see 43 forces potentially going into special measures because we would not be able to put any more into it. Over the years of austerity, we\u2019ve already looked at smarter ways of working, ways of making effective cuts. We\u2019ve done all this, so we\u2019re already at the bone.\u201d<\/p>\n