The Independent Inspector is sounding the alarm on police numbers - Louise Haigh responds to State of Policing report

Louise Haigh MP, Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister, responding to the State of Policing report and comments by Sir Tom Windsor, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, that there is “undoubtedly a relationship” between police numbers and serious violence, said:

“With surging violent crime, the Independent Inspector is sounding the alarm by warning that some forces are so stretched that the lives of vulnerable people are being put at risk.

“The police have reached a tipping point, where responding to surging levels of violent crime after eight years of brutal cuts is becoming almost unmanageable.

“It’s time the Tories finally owned up to the public by admitting that their cuts have left our police at breaking point and put our communities at risk.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• ·         “In some cases, forces are putting vulnerable people at serious risk of harm. In some forces, we found that staff were holding thousands of emergency calls in queues, largely because officers were not available to respond to them.” State of Policing report (Page 12) - https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/wp-content/uploads/state-of-policing-2017-double-page.pdf

• ·         At state of policing report 2018 just now: Sir Tom Windsor on police numbers + serious violence “undoubtedly a relationship, but complex” - https://twitter.com/ITVAllegra/status/1006471816695689216