Lisa Townsend is the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey.
Like lots of my fellow Conservative PCCs, I felt inspired and hopeful studying the brand new House Secretary’s open letter to police leaders in England and Wales final month. Suella Braverman was clear in her expectation that police should put the wants of the general public and victims first, and far has been manufactured from the reference and subsequent conversations about police turning as much as each housebreaking.
For many of us this, together with additional officers on our streets, will appear to be the ‘frequent sense policing’ the House Secretary is eager to get again to. In actuality, it’s one thing many forces have been a minimum of working in the direction of if not but reaching.
So why have the police apparently drifted so removed from what we as the general public anticipate them to deal with? Some will say it’s as a result of they’re focusing an excessive amount of on ‘woke’ points and Twitter spats, and also you gained’t discover a extra sympathetic ear than me on this topic. There isn’t any doubt in my thoughts that the policing of non-crime hate incidents has no place in our society, no matter how well-resourced a drive is.
Merely being offensive is just not an offence. Massive public occasions similar to Satisfaction do require a police presence however there’s a distinction between policing them and participating. A lot as I can perceive why a Met officer might wish to give her all when my beloved Spurs rating that profitable aim, if she’s in uniform managing the group at White Hart Lane, then I anticipate her to avoid wasting the celebration till she’s off responsibility.
I truthfully don’t perceive why Satisfaction will get particular remedy. The prison regulation is totally different, and the Malicious Communications Act exists for good purpose. If it could break the regulation offline, then the police are proper to behave when it takes place on-line.
Anti-social behaviour is one other, typically non-crime, issue which takes up police time. However the place ought to police draw the road? I’d argue that behaviour which is (subjectively) ‘anti-social’ deserves the eye of native councils, colleges, and oldsters earlier than the police are known as out.
Certainly, if an adolescent has determined that sitting out on a chilly rec floor in the course of the night time in November is preferable to being in his own residence then the aforementioned businesses are most likely higher positioned to intervene. Nonetheless, behaviour that’s clearly inflicting misery to others and which has the potential to escalate to a prison offence presents a possibility for neighbourhood police groups to stop crime and reassure residents.
For too lengthy, and nicely inside our lifetime, the police didn’t intrude within the ‘home’, personal area of a husband and spouse. I bear in mind being horrified when, throughout the first yr of my regulation diploma, I learnt that marital rape had solely been against the law since 1992.
Fortunately the regulation, and society, takes a really totally different view immediately and because of this police forces throughout the nation now have methods in place to sort out home abuse, together with the crime of controlling and coercive behaviour. Specialist models exist to help victims and society is turning into much less tolerant of perpetrators. However a rise of bobbies on the beat gained’t save a girl who’s being held digital prisoner in her own residence.
The above appears clear to me. I don’t imagine I’m alone. However, we should deal with the tougher features of useful resource administration. In Surrey, a mean day for the police drive contains seven burglaries, seven lacking individuals, and 42 incidents regarding psychological well being. I believe you possibly can see the place this going.
Final week, as a part of World Psychological Well being Day, I spoke on a platform on the Royal Faculty of Psychiatrists that had been organised by the Excessive Sheriff for Larger London. All of the audio system have been from the prison justice sector or had expertise of it, and I kicked off the speeches with a stark tackle the pressures going through the police.
Each facet of the prison justice system – police, probation, courts, coroners, prisons – is overwhelmed by the failure of the NHS and group psychological well being companies to handle the demand of those that need assistance. It might not appear to be frequent sense policing to you or me, however somebody who’s probably harmful to themselves or others takes up an rising quantity of police time, and there’s no signal of that slowing.
Fairly the other, in truth. Add to that the impact of substance misuse, the cost-of-living disaster, and the lasting results of the pandemic on well being companies, and it’s clear the issue goes to worsen earlier than it will get higher.
There are extra powerful conversations on resourcing to return, notably given the financial scenario. The police shall be known as out extra as different public companies falter. Commons sense dictates that it’s time for a dialog about what we actually anticipate from our police and the place different businesses have to step up.
