PSA National Secretary Warren Franklin has responded to today's HMICFRS State of Policing Report:
“Today’s State of Policing Report highlights many of the key challenges our association has raised repeatedly, and which will be a central theme at our conference taking place next week.
“It is right that the bravery, courage and sacrifice of the police workforce has been recognised, along with the substantial improvements that have been made in key areas of policing over the last year. The huge amount of work underway by officers and staff to do better for our communities should be applauded.
“Funding is a key topic within the report and must be addressed. The inspectorate has echoed concerns raised by ourselves, by chief constables and many key voices in policing, that without adequate funding, the government’s reform agenda, and their opportunity for major, positive change, will fail. Alongside this, our ability to continue to do the very basics that communities want and deserve from a well performing police service will become harder to deliver, as demand rises from all directions, amidst population increases and changing public needs.
“We welcome the inspectorate's call on the Home Office to do it all it can to address the morale and wellbeing crisis we face. This has been one of our strongest calls to leadership for years. This situation has been allowed to go on for too long – our people are struggling and they deserve better. Officers at every rank are showing the strain of the demand policing is under and it should not be allowed to continue. The report cites our own figures from last year, showing the poor state of morale and motivation amongst superintendents – those who our service depends on to lead with the highest levels of responsibility. This is a crisis at every rank of our workforce.
“Now is the time for the Police Covenant to deliver on its aims and protect the police workforce, for the government to provide funding to enable chief constables to invest in meaningful, consistent wellbeing support, and for long-term, sustainable investment to be made into our service, so that police reform can become a reality.”
