Top officer admits British police are ‘very close to losing the streets’
By LAURA CAT
VoiceOfEurope.com
24 September 2018
As the government continues to cut funding for police, top officer, Sergeant Simon Kempton raises the alarm that police are ‘very close to losing the streets’. The operation policing lead for the Police Federation believes the cuts in police numbers is directly responsible for the rise in violent crime.
He has requested the government focus on protecting its citizens, stating that the future looked bleak if officials continue their “gross underfunding of the police service”. Sergeant Kempton has urged the government to stop “underfunding” the police service.
“I think the first and the last duty of any government is to protect its citizens, and if the budgets across government have to be constrained difficult decisions need to be made.”
Simon continued: “But keeping people safe, alive and getting on top of criminality should absolutely be the top priority of this and any other government.
“The reason we pay taxes for a police service is so we feel safe in our homes, these are fundamental things we must meet as a society.”
His strong words follow on the heels of a top police chief claiming forces were at ‘breaking point’ after massive budget cuts.
Figures from the Institute for Fiscal studies show that 606 police stations have been forced to close since 2010. Cities such as Bath and St. Albans no longer have a station at all.
Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation recently stating that the country’s largest police force had ’run out of things to sell’ after being put in the unenviable position of selling off more than £1 billion worth of property over the past six years.
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