North East Police Forces' up against 4,000 outstanding calls before they get to work

The Police Federation are demanding that the government invests in North East police forces, after revealing a snapshot of activity over one morning this week.

Before most officers arrived at work today, the forces were dealing with over 4000 outstanding calls for service or open incidents, 144 missing persons and 269 prisoners in custody.

Andrea Breeze, chair of Cleveland Police Federation Police Federation, said:

“These figures of a typical midweek day show that demand is massively outstripping resources. Before we start every day, we are playing catch in terms of dealing with calls. It’s not just about crime, the impact of having to look for missing vulnerable people places a huge burden on already stretched resources.

“Despite the political rhetoric from Government, we are not just crime fighters. We are picking up the burden of many other areas of work from other agencies. This is against a backdrop of continually reducing numbers. The savage cuts imposed on the police service are bringing the service to its knees. We are going back to the days of reactive only policing of the mid 1980’s. This a not good for the service or the public.”

In July, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) further outlined the demand on police, showing that recorded crime increased by 10% nationally in the previous twelve months with an 18% rise in violent crime.

At the same time, workforce data revealed a further fall of nearly 1,000 officers in the previous twelve months leaving forces to manage with the lowest number of officers since 1985.

In the North East officer numbers have reduced by 19% since 2010 with the loss of 3,736 officers across the region (19,673 to 15,937).

Increasing and unrealistic workloads set against a backdrop of increased crime and reducing officer numbers is taking its toll on police officers in the North East.

Combined figures from the Police Federation of England and Wales’ recent pay and morale survey showed that on average, 60 per cent of officers in the North East were experiencing low morale. How police are treated as a whole and workload and responsibility were two of the most significant contributory factors.

Cleveland Police (65 per cent) had the fifth highest number of respondents reporting low morale in England and Wales.

Durham (85.6 per cent) was ranked number one for respondents that stated their workload had increased in the last twelve months, with two other North East forces, Humberside and Northumbria, featuring in the top ten. On average 70 per cent of officers in the North East said their workload was too high.

Also, stats showed that whilst 63% of officers in the region are proud to work for the police, 68% would not recommend joining the police service.

Andrea Breeze, said:

“There is real anger and fury from officers regarding last week’s pay award announcement. The 2 per cent award, consisting of a one per cent pensionable pay rise plus a one per cent non-pensionable additional amount, still falls short of the 2.9 per cent rate of inflation and equates to a real terms pay cut for officers of 16 per cent since 2009/2010.

“The Government have given a pay award which has to be funded form existing police budgets. This means in reality Chief Constables have to pay for it out of current budgets – budgets where they are still trying to find savings from the cuts imposed upon them from No.10, They will have to stop recruiting, and reduce police officer numbers further to pay for this underhand Government pay award. All this does is weaken the police service further to deal with demand and lower morale.”

Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary, Mike Barton, said:

“We are very proud to be the number one performing force in the country and recognise this is down to the continued efforts and dedication of all our officers and personnel.

“They regularly go the extra mile to ensure we provide the best possible service we can to the communities we serve and make Durham and Darlington safe places to live and work.

“There’s no doubt that our staff feel the strain, especially when additional expectations are placed on our resources from other sectors. This includes when we have to look after vulnerable members of our society who are not always victims of crime.

“When it comes to the investigation of crime and the level of demand this places on the Force, the public expect and deserve bad people to be arrested and dealt with appropriately.

“What I need to do is to ensure our staff are looked after.”

Cleveland Police Chief Constable Iain Spittal said:

“Police officers are dedicated public servants, my last four years working alongside officers and staff here at Cleveland Police has resulted in me seeing the absolute determination of our officers to protect the communities they serve from harm.

“I and my Executive team will continue to work tirelessly with our local Police Federation colleagues, seeking to improve the working conditions of those who serve across the Cleveland Police area.

“Locally, I have seen, first hand, the pressure my officers face on a daily basis. I am committed to working with the Police Federation to try and improve their experience in the work place and to help them be the best they can be every day, undertaking the role they see as so important."