TonyGosling
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Joined: 25 Jul 2005
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Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
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 Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 11:49 pm Post subject: Thu17Jan13 Paul McKeever - anti-cuts Police Federation boss |
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| Mark Gobell wrote: | The gradual digging up of the playing field to make it "more level" for future, cheaper private games ...
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Thousands of 999 police axed as spending cuts hit frontline numbers
Figures reveal emergency staff have been hit despite pledge by David Cameron to defend them from spending cuts
Toby Helm and Mark Townsend
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 10 March 2012 21.31 GMT
Article history
The number of police dealing with 999 emergencies has fallen by more than 5,000 since the last general election, according to new figures that seriously undermine David Cameron's pledge to be defending "frontline" forces from spending cuts.
The figures, compiled from responses to freedom of information requests from all 43 forces in England and Wales, are a severe embarrassment to the government, which has insisted that its 20% funding cuts will not compromise public safety or the fight against crime.
Labour described the job losses among so-called "first responders" – those following up on 999 calls – as "shocking" and said they raised new questions about whether the public could trust the government.
Only last month Cameron told the Commons that the percentage of frontline officers was actually increasing. Ministers have claimed more officers are being switched to the "sharp end" as back office jobs go and police bureaucracy is reduced. But the new data, supplied by the forces themselves and verified independently by the House of Commons library, shows a fall of 5,261 in the number of officers defined as "first responders" between March 2010 and December last year.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary defines "first responders" as those responding to 999 calls, attending traffic accidents and being first at the scenes of crime and other incidents such as public disturbances.
Of the 43 forces, 23 have so far only submitted figures up to March last year in their FOI responses, meaning that, when all the figures are in, the total is likely to be significantly higher.
Among forces that have suffered the biggest culls of 999 officers are Devon and Cornwall, which lost 540 "first responders" (25% of its total), and West Midlands, which lost 1,023 (19%).
Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, which represents 135,000 officers, said the impact of the cuts would raise questions about the police's ability to contain events such as last summer's riots. "It puts more pressure on those who are left. In particular, those involved in responding are stretched and it puts their safety on the line," he said.
"It also impinges on the public's safety. We keep getting the same mantra from government, that it wants to concentrate on crime, that it's a core responsibility, and that's sending one message to the public. The message is that they expect us to do everything, which cannot be right. We have to acknowledge that, with cuts of between 20% and 32%, we cannot do more with that much less."
Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, whose office made the freedom of information requests, said: "Time and again the government has promised us the frontline will not be cut but now we see very clear proof that the very officers that need to respond to 999 calls, that need to respond to emergency incidents, are disappearing. To lose thousands of the very officers that you need in an emergency will be deeply worrying for people right across the country. People need to know that the police will be there when they need them."
A Home Office spokesman said: "These are not official figures and we don't recognise them. The reality is independent reports have shown police can reduce costs while protecting the frontline and, according to official statistics and police plans, the proportion of officers on the frontline is rising.
"We've reversed the policies of the past to get police out of back-office roles and back on the streets. Official figures show that since March 2010 we've seen 500 more officers on the frontline as work is done across all 43 forces to reduce the more than 23,500 warranted police officers in backroom posts."
The FOI submissions are certain to catapult the issue of policing and crime to the top of the political agenda, after the latest British Crime Survey figures showed personal crime – including theft, robbery and violence – had gone up by 11% since last year, the steepest rise for more than a decade. The home affairs select committee raised concerns last year about the effects that £2bn of cuts a year would have on the service and on crime levels. The committee also raised concerns that the biggest savings were to be made in 2012-3 – when police authorities would be replaced with police and crime commissioners, and when there would be additional pressure on forces nationwide due to the 2012 Olympics.
Last year the police minister, Nick Herbert, said: "We believe that by controlling costs, cutting bureaucracy, making savings in force back and middle offices, and improving productivity, the police service for the public can be maintained and improved even as funding is reduced."
Other ministers have repeatedly said that crime and police effectiveness "do not depend on numbers".
Cooper said that policing could well become as big a political crisis for the government in the runup to the next election as the NHS. Like the NHS, the government was about to impose massive and unwelcome reform on a service that the public believed had improved, even at a time of massive spending cuts.
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TonyGosling
Editor
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 18335
Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
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| Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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Police federation leader Paul McKeever dies
MARGARET DAVIS , JAMIE GRIERSON Friday 18 January 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/police-federation-leader -paul-mckeever-dies-8457751.html
The head of a national police group who died suddenly was remembered today for his “tireless” work for officers during one of the most turbulent times in the force's history.
Chairman of the Police Federation for England and Wales Paul McKeever, 57, died last night after suffering a suspected embolism.
Tributes were paid today by a string of policing colleagues and Home Secretary Theresa May, with whom Mr McKeever had heated clashes.
Mrs May said: "I was deeply saddened to hear the news today of Paul McKeever's death. He gave more than 35 years of his life to the police in a long and distinguished career, including risking his own personal safety at the frontline in the Brixton riots.
"As chairman of the Police Federation, he worked tirelessly on behalf of rank and file officers across the country and I know they will join with me in mourning his loss today."
Mr McKeever, who was married with one daughter, was just two weeks away from retirement, having announced his departure last summer.
At the time he said: "I cannot stay within a service that is having the Office of Constable attacked, police officers denigrated and public safety put at risk."
He had also accused Mrs May of being "on the precipice of destroying a police service that is admired and replicated throughout the world".
Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) president Sir Hugh Orde said: "The sad news of Paul McKeever's death has come as a shock to the policing family.
"Paul and I served together as Pcs in London. Paul worked tirelessly in his role as Police Federation chairman and was a passionate advocate and voice for public safety and the rank and file."
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe sent his condolences to the veteran police officer's family.
The son of the late Pc David Rathband, who was shot and blinded by gun maniac Raoul Moat while on duty, also paid tribute. Ash Rathband said he was "completely shocked" at the loss of a "genuinely lovely man".
Mr McKeever was among those who praised Pc Rathband's bravery and paid tribute himself when the officer was found dead at his Northumberland home last February.
Chairman-elect of the Police Federation Steve Williams said: "He was a truly outstanding chairman, and most importantly a truly outstanding police officer and man. A true gentleman, his leadership and reputation will be remembered highly by all those who knew him."
Mr McKeever was recently embroiled in the so-called "plebgate" scandal involving former chief whip Andrew Mitchell.
Mr Mitchell was forced to quit his Cabinet post amid a storm of protest - fuelled by the Police Federation - over claims that he called officers "plebs" during a spat in Downing Street.
Earlier in the affair, Mr McKeever stepped up pressure on Mr Mitchell to hand in his resignation, saying it was "hard to fathom how someone who holds the police in such contempt could be allowed to hold a public office".
But subsequent claims suggested Mr Mitchell could have been the target of an alleged conspiracy involving officers, which is now the subject of a Scotland Yard investigation.
Mr McKeever acknowledged concerns that his organisation had "stoked up" attention on Mr Mitchell, adding that he would apologise to the MP if the new investigation showed he had been wrongly accused.
He started his policing career in 1977, when he joined the Metropolitan Police straight from London University, and his career included policing the Brixton riots in 1981 and 1985.
A Harlequins Rugby Football Club fan, he later served in Bromley Borough as a police sergeant and performed a number of different roles within the Met Police before being elected to thePolice Federation in 1992.
He was appointed Federation chairman in May 2008 and held a number of other roles including chairman of the Staff Side of the UK Police Negotiating Board and a board member for thePolice Leadership College.
Metropolitan Police Federation chairman John Tully said: "It has come as a total shock to everyone, it is completely out of the blue.
"He led the Federation through perhaps the most demanding time in history and was within two weeks of retirement."
President of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales Derek Barnett said: "He was a fine police officer and outstanding leader of the Police Federation through some of the most demanding times in policing.
"Having committed a significant part of his life to the police service, and the Police Federation in particular, it is a tragedy that he and his family have been denied his well deserved retirement."
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www.v911t.org
www.thisweek.org.uk
www.abolishwar.org.uk
www.elementary.org.uk
www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2149
http://utangente.free.fr/2003/media2003.pdf
"The maintenance of secrets acts like a psychic poison which alienates the possessor from the community" Carl Jung
https://37.220.108.147/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/ |
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