Reverse the Police Cuts

I read an article a few weeks ago that I cannot stop thinking about. It concerns the closure of police stations. Here’s the link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4764324/40-police-stations-close-violent-crime-surges.html

For those who do not wish to read it, the article summarises that 40 per cent of police stations have been closed over the past seven years.

It is important to point out that closing 40 per cent of police stations is not the same as cutting back 40 per cent of police officers. That is not what’s happening. Many police officers have simply been moved to other police stations to make better use of existing resources.

Nevertheless, the number of police officers has been significantly cut this decade. According to the article with the link below, 17,000 police officers and almost 16,000 police support staff have been cut since 2010. And please bear in mind that this is at a time where the UK population continues to significantly increase. That is not a positive combination.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34899060

My personal opinion is that enough is enough. I’m not unsympathetic to government budget cuts in general. Furthermore, I do support the desire to eliminate the deficit and start paying off the national debt as soon as possible.

But in an era where technology is helping criminals operate in new ways, terrorism is increasing and violent crime is still prevalent in society, it is surely time to start recruiting more police and give them greater resources. I hate seeing a report on the news and thinking to myself: could that crime or terrorist attack have been prevented if the police had been given greater resources?

This is just one of many fascinating issues University of Leicester criminology students cover on Neil Chakraborti’s excellent Policing module. Year 3 students (on the BSc degree), you are in for a treat! For many current BA Criminology students, it was one of the best modules on our course.

Now it’s your over to you…what do you think about the two articles featured in this blog post? Do you fear for your safety with a smaller police force? Or have the police just got to manage their resources more effectively?