Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Police officers in England and Wales are expected to spend more time patrolling the streets under new reform plans set to be announced soon. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood plans to address the issue of excessive administrative duties that currently keep officers away from frontline work. Her proposals aim to reduce redundant paperwork and red tape, allowing officers to respond more quickly and be present within the community.
In addition to easing administrative burdens, Mahmood intends to introduce a national standard for emergency response times to 999 calls. The goal is for police to reach incidents within 15 minutes in urban areas and within 20 minutes in rural locations. Mahmood highlighted the problem: “People are reporting crimes and then waiting hours or even days for a response.” However, critics like Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp remain skeptical, arguing, “it’s hard to take Labour’s promises seriously when they have stripped more than 1,300 officers from the front line in our communities.”
Support for the reform extends to other political figures as well. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson emphasized the necessity for the government to fulfill its commitments and increase police presence on the streets. Currently, while most police forces have response time targets, there is no mechanism to enforce these standards if unmet. The Home Office plans to address this by deploying experts from highly effective forces to assist those lagging behind. John Hayward-Cripps, chief executive of Neighbourhood Watch, welcomed the move, describing it as a positive step toward ensuring the police respond reliably when crimes are reported.
Another aspect of the reform touches on police funding models, particularly concerning staffing levels. Mahmood criticized the current ‘officer maintenance grant,’ which some feel incentivizes forces to allocate uniformed officers to administrative roles rather than frontline duties. Meanwhile, broader government initiatives accompanying these response time changes include the creation of a new National Police Service tasked with handling counter-terrorism, fraud, and organized crime, effectively relieving local forces to concentrate on everyday crimes. Additionally, all officers in England and Wales will be required to hold a licence proving competency in key areas such as combating violence against women and girls, with failure to meet these standards potentially leading to dismissal. Furthermore, plans are underway to reduce the number of police forces from the existing 43 to a smaller number, with police chiefs advocating for the formation of 12 larger “mega forces” to improve efficiency
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.