I’m encouraged to see Sue Mountstevens blog that she has written to the prime minister to explain that our police service is at a pivotal point and requires urgent investment.
Surely the pivotal point was actually when the Conservative’s decided to reduce the police force to the tune of 20,000 officers.
The official figures show an increase in crime of 10% this did not happen overnight. We have been aware for several years of a rise in crime particularly anti-social behaviour, violent crime and knife crime.
In our area we now have no visible Policing, maybe a passing police car if your lucky. We now have a force with such a reduced capability that they can only react to crime once it’s committed even then minor crimes receive little or no response.
This is not a criticism of our officers, quite the opposite they do a fantastic job with the underfunded and understaffed service we have been left with.
Personally I would like to see something more detailed and proactive, how many officers do we need to be effective, how much additional funding is needed.
So it’s great to see a response from our PCC however it should have happened a long time ago.
http://www.avonandsomerset-pcc.gov.uk/Your-PCC/PCC-Blog/Policing-is-now-at-a-pivotal-point.aspx