The tragic death of PC David Rathband reminds us that the victims of crime are so often wearing uniforms. Whatever the circumstances of David Rathband’s death, he was murdered by Raoul Moat. I can’t imagine what David Rathband’s life was like following his shooting. He showed colossal courage in dealing with his injuries. It appears that despite the national fame, he didn’t get the support he needed.

In recent years, we’ve given more recognition to police officers killed in the line of duty. There’s the dramatic blue glass Police Memorial, which stands next to Churchill’s wartime bunker on Horseguards’ Parade. Inside the blue column is a book of remembrance, with the names of officers who have lost their lives. I hope PC Rathband’s is allowed to be added.

The memorial was unveiled on 26 April 2005 by the Queen and prime minister Tony Blair. It is now an established part of the scene in that part of London – a Richard Rogers modernist structure, alongside a concrete bomb shelter, surrounded by buildings from the age of Palmerston. When out and about in Westminster, I often pass it and spare a thought for the families of the officers named there.

The memorial is testament to the campaigning of an unlikely champion: restaurant critic and maker of Death Wish, Michael Winner. I doubt Winner has come in for praise in Progress many times in the past 15 years. He was a staunch Conservative in the 1980s (although supported New Labour in 1997, like everyone else). But on this, he deserves full credit. Michael Winner founded the Police Memorial Trust in 1984, following the shooting of PC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in St James’s Square. Yvonne Fletcher was shot by a sterling machine gun from the window of the embassy. Her monument was unveiled by Margaret Thatcher the following year. Since then, the Police Memorial Trust has raised the money for 38 memorials to commemorate 43 police officers killed on duty throughout the United Kingdom.

In 2004, the National Police Memorial Day has become an important part of the national calendar. When I worked for the police minister, I recall this being an unmissable date in her diary. It was set up by Joe Holness of the Kent Police, following the killing of PC Jon Odell in Margate. PC Odell was carrying out pre-Christmas speed checks on traffic, when one driver Wayne Rule, decided to ram him, dragging him under the car for 50 yards until he was dead. Wayne Rule was convicted in 2001 to nine years’ imprisonment, which of course means he has now served his sentence. The National Police Memorial Day service this year will be held at York Minster on Sunday 30 September.

The Police Dependents’ Trust was set up in 1966 after the murder of Temporary Detective Constable David Wombwell, Detective Sergeant Christopher Head, and Police Constable Geoffrey Fox, in Braybrook Street, on the Old Oak estate in Acton, near Wormwood Scrubs prison. The officers approached a blue van without a tax disc parked in the street. The gang inside opened fire, and all three officers were killed. Following a manhunt all three of the gang were caught, convicted and handed down life sentences. One died in prison in 1981, the second was beaten to death by his heroin addict flatmate following his release, and the third remains in Littlehay prison, Cambridgeshire.

A thousand people crowded outside Westminster Abbey for a memorial service to the three police officers, attended by Harold Wilson and Edward Heath. CO19, the Metropolitan Police armed response unit, was brought into being shortly afterwards. Billy Butlin, the holiday camp impresario, donated £250,000, alongside thousands of smaller donations from the public. The Police Dependents’ Trust was created with the cash to help those left behind when a police officer is killed. The Police Memorials Trust funded a memorial to the three officers in Acton, on the spot where they were murdered.

David Rathband set up the Blue Lamp Foundation to provide support to any member of the emergency services injured as the result of a criminal act. In the short time it has been running, it has helped police officers, fire crews and ambulance crew members who have been injured. I have no doubt that the Blue Lamp Foundation will continue its work, and become an important source of practical help and support.

Since the Middlesex Justices Act in 1792 which created the first salaried police constables, almost 4,000 have been killed. The government’s cuts to frontline policing, with reduced numbers of officers on the streets, not only put the public at risk. The reductions to police numbers also put serving officers at greater risk too, because there will be fewer officers to support one another.

It is clear that we do not do enough to support police officers bearing physical and mental wounds they received while protecting us. Issues around mental health, and especially post-traumatic stress disorder, are only starting to be properly addressed. There are only two centres for treating police officers with mental health problems including PTSD. Unlike the armed services, which now have state-of-the-art facilities and greater public recognition for dealing with the impact of combat, services for the police remain underfunded. The next Labour police minister should have this at the top of their intray.

It is important that we commemorate the dead. But we must also support the many thousands more who are living in the shadow of crime committed to them, reliving their trauma and, like David Rathband, unable to forget the faces of those who caused it.

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Paul Richards is seeking the Labour nomination to be police commissioner for Sussex. If elected, one-third of his police commissioner annual salary will be donated to police welfare charities.

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Photo: Metropolitan Police