Camp beds for our police officers as Donald Trump embarks on visit
The sleeping conditions of police protecting Donald Trump on his visit to Britain have been branded ‘disgraceful’ – with officers crammed into bunks in gyms and squash courts.
Thousands of extra officers have been sent to the nation’s capital – including scores from West Mercia Police, 400 from West Midlands Police and 100 from Staffordshire Police.
But sleeping accommodation provided for the officers as part of the £10 million security operation have prompted widespread fury among officers and top brass.
Images show hundreds of camp beds squeezed into a sports hall, while groups of female officers have been told to get their heads down on mats in a squash court after working 12-hour shifts.
Some officers said there was nowhere for them to charge their phones, while others complained of having to get dressed in the dark after taking freezing cold showers.
West Mercia Police would not say how many of its officers had been sent to help the security operation.
But its Crime Commissioner John Campion said: “I think our communities would rightly expect that when police officers are asked to work long hours to keep people safe, away from their own homes, that they are housed in appropriate accommodation.”
The crime commissioner for the West Midlands, David Jamieson, described conditions as “an absolute disgrace”. He added: “No officer should be made to sleep on a camp bed, inches from the floor, in a sports hall with scores of colleagues only metres apart after a 12 hour shift.
“Some female officers are even having to sleep in squash courts.
“These officers are in the South East to keep the President of the United States safe. They aren’t asking for luxury accommodation, but the least we can do is put them up in a room with a proper bed.”
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The Police Federation has also complained about the conditions, saying officers had been given accommodation that is worse than prison cells.
Simon Kempton, the organisation’s deputy treasurer in England and Wales, said officers sleeping in the gymnasium had no access to hot water and restricted access to warm food.
“What’s clear is that anyone overnight who has been arrested by the police would be put in accommodation far superior to what the officers are staying in,” he said.
The operation for Mr Trump’s visit is one of the biggest in police history. It has meant that cash-strapped West Midland Police has had to cancel 1,000 rest days, with the force also expected to send 100 officers to Scotland this weekend.
