Cuts threaten frontline policing locally, MP warns
Further government cuts to police funding will hit frontline policing, Chuka Umunna MP has warned, having learned that police officers are having to carry out tasks such as emptying bins in local police stations because of cuts to back office functions.
Speaking in a debate in the House of Commons this week, Mr Umunna said: “In my local area, the police tell me that their back office is already cut to the bone. We now have the ridiculous situation of front-line police officers taking time to do things such as empty the bins in a police station in my constituency.
“That was done by the back office, but it is no longer a back-office function as the back office is not there. The police are spending time emptying bins rather than being on the street fighting crime. How on earth is that justifiable?
Mr Umunna’s intervention was greeted with heckling and laughter from the Liberal Democrat and Conservative benches in the House of Commons Chamber.
Project Hannah, an innovative pilot programme, is currently being put in place by Lambeth Police. The project does not involve a reduction in officers, but is a reorganization to maximize resources and create additional coverage on beat patrols. There are fears that reducing resources while the programme is being implemented could put these improvements in jeapoardy.
The government is cutting the police budget by 20 per cent over the spending review period. In real terms, this means a cut of 7.5 per cent in 2011/12 and 8.7 per cent in 2012/13. Around 80 per cent of police forces’ budgets is spent on personnel.
Commenting, Mr Umunna said: “Ministers talk of police forces making efficiency savings, but back office functions and operations have already been cut back to the bone.
“The government is slashing police funding too deeply and too quickly, and it is impossible to see how this can take place without a significant impact on front line policing.
“I was flabbergasted that Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs should choose to laugh and jeer as I passed on to the House the views of local police officers who risk their lives week in week out keeping us safe – it is all the more shocking that they should do so when I was giving police views on the strain on resources being brought about by the cuts the Coalition government is imposing.
“Community safety in our area is no laughing matter and it is an affront to local people who will find it deeply disrespectful that MPs on the government benches think it is. This shows how deeply out of touch the Liberal Democrat-Conservative government is becoming from the lives of my constituents”.
