Coincidental to an Opinion piece I wrote a short while ago on the appalling record of clear-up rates by the police for petty crime, Rye News has received the following letter from a former policeman:
Dear Editor,
Tonight, (Wednesday 31st August), I am both angry and embarrassed. I have just watched the main headlines on the national news and seen my former occupation/profession crucified. The sad thing is that I simply cannot defend policing any longer.
For too long now, policing as we knew it has degenerated. Yes, a good deal of this is due to swathing cuts made by the current Government since they took office in 2010. However, an awful lot of the demise of policing is down to the current leadership i.e. senior police officers and the dreaded PCCs, the latter coming into post in 2012.
Policing has simply lost its way. It does, as has been stated by the Home Secretary, need to get back to basics. Much of today's violence is due to a lack of proactivity by the police in targeting those responsible. In my day we knew who was responsible and got in first. We went through the doors of the regular offenders time and time again and made criminality a very uncomfortable way of living. That does not happen now and the death of the little girl in Liverpool is as much to do with a lack of police activity which could have prevented this from happening as it is to do with the individual who fired the gun. Yes, sadly I believe that policing is culpable.
Policing is, I believe, simple. It is government, senior officers in recent years and academics who have made it complicated. The police need to focus on two basic things. Identifying criminals and arresting and prosecuting them and keeping the public safe and preventing crime as a result. Yes, it is as simple as that!!!!
Kevin Moore
Retired Detective Chief Superintendent Sussex Police
Mr Moore is, in my view, absolutely right. What is needed is boots back on the beat (see my previous article) not uniformed police constables being encouraged to wiggle their bottoms to the beat of the Macarena at a Pride march in order to demonstrate their 'inclusivity', as reported in various national media a few days ago.
The Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) have brought in what is, in effect, 'value for money' policing and have tightened police purse strings accordingly. Value for money, surely, is seeing most crimes solved and criminals behind bars, not over 90% unsolved while the powers that be, seem more concerned with being seen to be diverse and inclusive than doing the job we pay our taxes for.
