Bye Bye Beat Bobbies?

Faced with a massive reduction in funding, the police will be forced to make difficult choices and to transform the way they investigate crimes.

17:32 29 October 2015

National Police Chief’s Council, Sarah Thornton has hinted that beat bobbies “could become a thing of the past” due to massive reduction in funding.  

 

She said that although the public has come to “like and respect over many, many years” high visibility patrols on the street, the police force will have to transfer they investigate crime to make savings. She added that officers would "always respond to the pub fight, domestic abuse, to people in difficulty" but, in the future, patrols would not be focused on areas of low crime.

 

The police service has been told to expect a 25per cent to 40per cent reduction in funding in November’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

 

Craig Mackey, the deputy commissioner of the Met Police, said: We are driving out costs everywhere we can but when you get to these sorts of figures it will be challenging...on our scenarios some of the services you previously got face to face you won't get in the future."

 

However, Mike Penning, the Minister for Policing, said that crime had fallen by 8per cent year-on-year and by more than a quarter since 2010 following police reforms. "Over the last five years, frontline services have been protected, public confidence in the police has gone up and crime has fallen to its lowest ever level," he added.