Police at centre of storm amid prisons overcrowding crisis, senior officers told

Police have been left at the centre of a storm not of their making due to the early release of hundreds of prisoners, senior officers have been told.

President of the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) Nick Smart told the body’s annual conference that inmates are being set free without proper release plans and that the police would be left to deal with the consequences.

He used his keynote speech on Tuesday to say: “My colleagues are once again being placed at the centre of a storm that is not their doing, with the prospect of arresting offenders who can then not be placed in prison, and dealing with the fallout from the thousands of criminals being released early today, many potentially without proper rehabilitation and release plans.

“Will the public understand the position the police officers and the service are being put in here, or will we once again be viewed as a service getting it wrong?”

Delegates also heard that the service has been underfunded for several years, with the recent riots showing how police officers had to be pulled from other duties to deal with unrest.

“There are not enough police officers to deal with the demand that we face. There has been chronic underinvestment in policing for years, and this must change. Our service has been financially drowning for more than a decade,” Mr Smart said.

He told the conference that currently nearly 40 percent of the police workforce in England and Wales has less than five years’ experience, while the proportion with more than 25 years’ service has fallen by 38% since 2016.

In addition to this, 44% of superintendents are eligible to retire in the next six years, with no financial incentive to stay in their jobs.

Delegates heard that forces in England and Wales have seen an average increase of six officers per year since 2010.

Setting out a sobering view of the criminal justice system, Mr Smart addressed the Government, saying: “This is a time to lay a marker, and show us that things will be different, that we will no longer face year-on-year of underinvestment, our calls for change will not be ignored, and we will finally start to feel both valued and respected.

“No one knows policing better than your workforce. Let us help you get it right. Let’s start afresh with a blank canvas for policing where the key stakeholders who know about policing – your workforce, those who live it every day, are listened to.”

Describing the criminal justice system as broken, he added: “We are doing all we can, and ‘all we can’ is not enough, because we are operating on a shoestring.

“Victims are being failed in the most damaging way and this must change.

“The sheer frustration that colleagues at all ranks and in all departments feel at being unable to provide victims with the service they deserve is palpable.”

A recorded video message from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was played expressing thanks to officers for their work and apologising for being unable to attend, after the conference heard the PSA was “disappointed” by her absence.

Delegates instead heard from policing minister Dame Diana Johnson who used her speech to set out how the Government was putting in motion plans to boost neighbourhood policing.

“I can announce today that the Government has agreed initial funding to support the College of Policing in rolling out a specialist new training programme for neighbourhood officers,” she said, adding that the move will “focus on anti-social behaviour, community engagement and problem solving and equip neighbourhood officers with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to build local relationships and to tackle the issues that damage communities the most”.

Jokingly asking delegates to go easy on her during her first time addressing the conference and taking questions after the speech, she added: “But having spent much of my time before the election asking uncomfortable questions as chair of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, including to ministers and policing leaders, I guess I now need to get used to the roles being reversed and having to answer those difficult questions.”