Policing has been steadily rising on the political agenda over recent months as the impact of the government’s drastic cuts to the policing budget is increasingly felt, and concern mounts about the consequences to public safety. This was epitomised in Labour’s opposition day debate on policing on Wednesday, when Labour MPs joined forces to share stories of the important role of the police in their constituencies and to warn of how worried local chief constables are about the severe cuts proposed by Tories.

Britain has seen the biggest cuts to any police force in Europe. Theresa May has slashed police funding by a quarter since 2010, and as a result, 17,000 police officers have been lost, with 23,000 more at the very least set to go in the next five years. It has been impossible for forces to protect their frontline officers. Already, 12,000 frontline officers have gone.

Now, forces have been told to expect another round of deep cuts to their policing budgets in the government’s upcoming spending review. The projected cuts of 20, 25 or 40 per cent come on top of the drastic reductions that forces have already had to take on, with serious implications for their ability to protect the public.

Labour supports the sensible efficiency savings that senior police chiefs and the Police Federation acknowledge are possible, but a policing budget cut in double figures could put public safety at risk. Between five and 10 per cent in savings is difficult but could be achieved through more intelligent procurement, changes to IT contracting and greater collaboration between forces. For example, we ourselves identified in the run up to the general election £172m that could be saved on procurement alone, investing that money in front line policing. Our plan would have saved 10,000 police officers in the first three years.

However, cuts of over 10 per cent become dangerous, with police community support officers all but disappearing, cuts to frontline officers and the decimation of neighbourhood policing. These reductions in officer and police community support officer numbers will compromise the ability of the police to protect the public.

Under funding reductions on the scale proposed by the Tories, police will be forced to go beyond sensible savings and will have no choice but to radically reduce neighbourhood policing, meaning that bobbies on the beat will disappear in many areas.

The government has quite simply failed to recognise that their haphazard cuts come at a time when the nature of crime is changing and demands on the police are increasing. We need a police force that can rise to the challenges of the twenty-first century: child sexual exploitation, soaring on-line fraud and cybercrime, and the most serious violent and sexual crimes, which are now shown to be rising.

Most significantly, neighbourhood policing is absolutely crucial in the fight against terrorism. Community bobbies are the eyes and ears on the ground that gain the vital intelligence that can nip terror plots in the bud, and yet police community support officers are set to be an endangered species by 2020. Senior figures in the Met are right to raise concerns about neighbourhood policing being hollowed out at a time when we most need it to guard against attacks.

The government cannot say they have not been warned. Labour have long brought home the danger of slashing the policing budget at such a pace. Six police and crime commissioners, four of them Tory, are threatening legal action over the unfair treatment of their forces. In addition, the National Audit Office and the home affairs select committee have already warned that the government are taking dangerous gamble in degrading the frontline services that people rely on. More recently, the Police Chief’s Council took their turn to sound the alarm.

May even had to face down Conservative members of parliament from the West Midlands who joined Labour to plea for fairer funding for their region’s police. Boris Johnson told City Hall that it cannot be right that the new funding arrangements will skew resources towards rural areas and away from metropolitan regions.

With senior figures from policing, parliament and even May’s own benches joining in the chorus telling her that cuts of this scale pose an unacceptable risk to public safety, she can no longer run away from her record.

The first duty of any government is the safety and security of its citizens. As her funding cuts become more and more extreme, we urge Theresa May to look at the evidence, listen to what police forces across the country are telling her and reconsider her reckless proposals.  The safety of the British public depends on it.

———————————-

Jack Dromey is shadow minister for policing

———————————-