Government should ‘focus on crisis enveloping policing’
The Police Federation has urged ministers to focus on the disastrous impact a new round of spending cuts will have on police forces.
Steve White, chair, Police Federation of England and Wales, said the government had stripped forces ‘almost bare’ of officers but now was gearing up to inflict more damage on communities by drastically cutting police force budgets again.
The comments come after the Home Secretary highlighted, at the National Black Police Association conference, figures showing the representation of ethnic minority officers in a number of forces around the country.
He said: ‘No one in the police service disagrees that forces should be as representative of and responsive to their local community whatever it's make-up as possible. Great strides have been made in this regard in recent years but of course there is still more to do.
'Forces have been stripped almost bare of officers due to this government's cuts - for the Home Secretary to be focusing on the make-up of the few officers left rather than on the crisis about to envelop policing as the next round of cuts approaches feels like little more than a good way to bury bad news.'
