It does not take a genius to understand or comprehend the devastating effect that REDUCING the budgets of the emergency services can have. Do ‘the powers that be’ think that criminals are going to commit less crime, because of the cutbacks?
It sounds ridiculous when you think about it, but the fact that the ‘powers that be’ DID NOT think about the repercussions of their decisions is even more common-sense-defying!
We have always said that ANYONE who believes that a cut in the budgets of the emergency services is justified or warranted, obviously understands absolutely nothing about the challenges which are being faced by the emergency services.
And today we learn that London, my old Policing ‘patch’, is now overtaking New York in relation to the amount of people who have been murdered.
So far in 2018, our colleagues in the Met Police have investigated 46 murders, compared with 50 in the US City.
But did all those individuals who, for example, rubbished the effect that Stop & Search has in deterring crime REALLY think that there would be ANY other outcome?
The people who have rubbished Stop & Search in public may have indeed pushed themselves into the public eye, but at what cost? And, was it worth it?
And what about the decisions which have been made that have the effect of reducing the amount of time that Officers actually spend on the streets, responding to 999 calls and disrupting the activity of criminals?
We have mentioned before, that getting rid of Case Progression Units – CPU’s – (the teams who process the prisoners once they have been arrested and taken back to the Police Station) in the Metropolitan Police was a BAD idea.
In an area as busy as the Met, where there can be well over 10,000 x 999 calls made in one day, making the decision that Police Officers can now no-longer hand over their prisoners to a dedicated team was, in my opinion, the wrong one.
Whereas you used to be able to get back out on the streets in around four hours having made an arrest, now you are probably going to end up spending around ten hours taking all of the statements, making all of the relevant CCTV enquiries (where applicable) and filling out the mountains upon mountains of paperwork (let us not forget the ‘use of force forms’ which have to be filled out when you put someone in handcuffs).
The Case Progression Unit was a prerequisite for anyone wanting to join CID – it was the perfect way to hone your evidence gathering skills. But that experience & opportunity has now gone.
And even though TSG Officers handing their prisoners over used to annoy Team CPU Officers, at least it meant that the TSG (I think there are still about 40 of them crammed into each Police Van) could get back out onto the streets and deter/prevent crime. And let us not forget, that due to all of the misinformation that has been spewed out to the general public by individuals trying to push their own agendas, that most Police Officers will now think twice now about actually carrying out a Stop & Search because of the fear of a 3-year ‘IPCC’ investigation hanging over them that will effectively halt ANY career progression aspirations… The reason there is more crime, is that the Police have had their hands tied not only by having to cope with a reduced budget, but also because people, with their own misinformed agendas, have been putting down the techniques used by the Police to help detect and deter criminals. And what is the result? More crime… Written by one of the many admins of Emergency Services Humour on Facebook, who is also a regular contributor to our popular fortnightly satirical eMagazine, ‘S__ts & Giggles’. S__ts & Giggles contains ALL of the best & funniest emergency-services-related blogs, stories and banter which we get sent in by our 225,000 followers, but which we don’t share online. ANYONE in ANY country can and is welcome to subscribe – for more information, CLICK HERE
