Ignoring the usual rubbish, lets look at what has actually happened.
I try to ignore these type of conversations nowadays because its not particularly good for me and those who already have their 'views' won't change them.
Nonetheless, I served for 25 years, 17 of which was as a response Inspector and then custody Inspector. I worked with some of the bravest, hardest working people you could ever meet. A tiny minority were poor-and the majority of those weeded out quickly.
I also saw things you dont forget and met some of the most violent people you could imagine.
Policing though is in crisis.
When I joined in 95 my force was bouyant-we had strong, experienced response teams, teams of detectives who were skilled and experienced and a command team that did their thing. It was a tough job to get into to; pay and conditions were decent and the pension very worthwhile.
Late 90s saw huge investment, the development of Neighbourhood policing and the advent of 'intelligence led policing'. Computers replaced typewriters which increased efficiency but slowly reduced time on the streets in order to complete paperwork. Admin/Civilian staff proliferated around this time too. In general morale was high. However, with the computers came an obsession with stats, targets and performance indicators-command officers/home office who were blissfully ignorant of performance now had the tools to monitor and often micro manage. But overall things were still good and the job worked.
From 2010 onwards the the policing landscape changed. Cuts were savage, year on year. Pay was frozen for a decade (real terms 20% cut over that period). Pension contributions increased by almost 20% and the actual pension for many was crippled; so much so that many questioned whether it was worth 30 years of grief to get to that point. Simply put you could now earn more from flipping burgers without the agro. In addition 'A19' meant that officers with 30 years+ service were all pensioned off-all that experience binned.
Neighbourhood policing disappeared-so too did vital links to the community, intellience led policing no longer functioning. Hundreds of police stations and contact points sold off. Officers withdrawn to cities, towns and hubs.
Cuts have consequence. Recruitment suffered-instead of people older with life experience, it became kids who would accept 19k a year and crap terms. Vetting was cut. Training cut back. More and more online-officers tied to computers.
Meanwhile a half of all courts have closed. Huge cuts to cps. It can take years to get to court.
In the community cuts to other services (NHS, social care) and the proliferation of drug use and mental health have meant that around half of all police time is taken up by mental health, missing persons, concerns for safety, 'baby sitting' vulnerable people at hospital, sitting with them in custody. In the last few years the law changed so that a police station (and therefore a cell) was no longer deemed a place of safety for a s136 mental health patient. Try to have that discussion with a local NHS bed manager at 4 in the morning when you have somebody who needs help and is locked in one of your cells? Do you simply release them? After all its illegal to keep them there but NHS are saying they have no beds in the entire country-yet that person has committed no crime...that was a weekly occurrence for me. And that would be one detainee among 50-80-the overwhelming majority with mental health issues, drug induced problems, self harm issues-so that those detainees would take officers from the streets to watch them in the cells-and many others sat outside hospitals with other people. Lines of police vehicles sat outside A&E's waiting to be seen.
As others have alluded to, new technology; 'internet crime', mobile phones etc have brought their own challenges in terms of the ability to deal with these 'crimes' and the amount of time it conusmes.
Now I haven't mentioned political parties* but its very convenient that the media is happy to portray the image of a handful of officers at pride events or similar-what is so wrong with that? What is so bad about promoting inclusion and diversity? Moreover, its a very convenient way of distracting the public from the real problems facing the service.
The job like many public services needs huge investment. You cannot expect to pay somebody 19k and attract quality, and then expect them to give 30+ years service, to work nights for decades, get assaulted regularly, spat at, treated like shit, threatened-lose almost every xmas/new year, most weekends...why would you?
But equally investment in the service-a return to high standards, recruitment-(I would estimate it would need 40,000 new police to recover from the cuts, resignations and retirement of the last decade), vetting, training-standards of appearance, uniform, discipline. A return to neighbourhood policing models. Investment in promotion and leadership.
None of this can happen though without huge investment in the NHS, social care, mental health, education, drug diversion etc etc. Because the officer you need to see isn't dealing with 'crime' they are dealing with all manner of things unrelated to that and nothing will change unless that changes.
*tories are c*nts.
www.bbc.co.uk
