Silent Crime: Police Federation boss on why officers are stretched- and the ‘real issue’ impacting forces

Police forces across the country are stretched beyond their ability, with many members of the public feeling that lower-level crime, such as anti social behaviour and nuisance crime are going unresolved by officers.

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Brian Booth, acting deputy national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, has spoken out about the ability of stretched police forces to respond and act on reports of nuisance crime.

‘Real issue’ with bureaucracy

Booth added that there is a “real issue” with bureaucracy in policing. He explained: “We have a campaign called the DG six campaign, which is about the guidelines from the directory general, and it's about how much officers have to spend time trolling through evidence to be a case file. 

“And we always hear this, oh, we're reducing bureaucracy within policing, but what we tend to find to get rid of one form takes another 10 forms for officers to fill in. It's never truly reduced, if anything, it increases with the complexity of the investigations we have.”

Police staffing numbers are also impacting the ability of forces across the country to respond to lower-level crimes. Booth explains that while the number of officers has increased by 20,000 to 2010 levels, population changes mean that this increase is insignificant in the grand scheme. 

“We've only gone back to 2010 numbers but in that period of time, we've seen a population increase of around 5 million people in the country. If you look at the figures comparing European officers per 100,000 people to the UK, [the numbers] are really low.

“So with increased demand and the complexities of crime, certain offences just can't possibly be looked at. Demand is really high, and I really do feel for the public in that sense, and most officers will feel exactly the same way.”

He added that support staff, who had previously helped to compile cases to be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service don’t exist any more and haven’t been replaced in the 20,000 recruits, saying: “You'll find officers completing admin functions instead of out patrolling.”

Police chiefs need to ‘wake up’

Booth warned that the sector needs to “wake up a little” and has urged police leaders to demand action to help forces cope with the pressures. He said: “When they say we are meeting demand it's about public confidence, rather than saying ‘Look, we are really struggling now’. 

“Unless there is going to be significant investment, not just in policing but the criminal justice system, then policing is going to have to change. But we're not having those conversations at that level because we're struggling with the demand with day-to-day jobs.”

Government’s nuisance crackdown is ‘nonsense’ without investment

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced at the Labour Party Conference last month that the government would be cracking down on street and nuisance crime, but Booth warns that little is likely to change without investment. He described the announcement as “a bit of a nonsense”, adding that prioritising nuisance crime will only impact the already-stretched sector’s ability to deal with more serious crime.

“Are you saying that we get rid of county lines crimes where we've got young children being exploited as drug mules? Are we going to stop dealing with violence against women and girls? Are we going to up knife crime below that? 

“We've got increased death on the roads and casualties, fraud, and policing protests. There are so many things which are a priority. What is the true priority?

“It feels sometimes when you have a politician speaking, it's playing like under-10s football, where they're all chasing the football rather than thinking strategically… a click of the fingers isn't going to fix anything.”

While investment in policing is something that would be welcomed by forces, Booth explains that investment in public services, for example mental health services, as a whole could have a huge impact on the ability of officers to handle more neighbourhood crime. 

He said: “Police are now picking up a certain amount of this when people are in crisis, and police officers are not trained to deal with people with mental health episodes. They can deal with the threat and the harm that someone may be causing to either themselves or others, but they can't deal with the individuals or care for them in the way that's needed. 

“We've also had a significant increase in missing people, where elderly people who might be suffering with Alzheimer's walk off and they are at real risk. They're out there putting themselves in harm and danger, and that takes a hell of a lot of police resources to try and find the individual and get them back to safety. Those are the demands of being put on officers which take them away from the low level things.”