Police reform 'too much, too soon'
Rank and file police officers have welcomed the conclusions of a new report into policing.
Led by former Met chief Lord Stevens has recommended scrapping Police and Crime Commissioners and merging some of the 43 forces in England and Wales.
The Inspectorate of Constabulary and Independent Police Complaints Commission should also be replaced, Lord Stevens said.
Steve White, Vice-Chair, Police Federation of England and Wales, said:
“Many of the findings of the report are to be broadly welcomed and reinforce much of what the Police Federation has been highlighting for several years.
“The scale of police reform has clearly been too much, too soon and the public and government should be greatly concerned about the detrimental impact this has had on neighbourhood policing.
“It is encouraging that the commission rightly acknowledges that the public still has confidence in its police service and it is imperative that this confidence is not eroded by unsustainable cuts to officer numbers and resources.
“We are now faced with the stark reality that demands on the service have never been greater and the reforms that have been imposed on the service to date is setting us up to fail.”
The Federation has backed calls for more community policing, but it needs proper resources.
It said the pressure on its members to meet additional expectations is “vast” and police officers often have to step in to support the shortfall in other services, such as mental health care and the provision of make-shift ambulances.
Lord Stevens said: "Faced with budgetary constraints and the government's insistence that police are crime fighters, there is a danger of the police being forced to retreat to a discredited model of reactive policing."
He made 37 recommendations, including a commitment to neighbourhood policing as the "building block of fair and effective policing".
