Thank you Steve.
Thank you for inviting me to speak at your conference today.
You have an important conference ahead of you, a big debate and votes on the future of the Police Federation.
You were right as a Federation to launch reforms, to make clear that the Police Federation needs to modernise for the 21st Century, and I want to thank Steve Williams and the team for the work they have done on reforms so far.
I will talk today about some of the challenges for the Police Federation because your role is vital in supporting effective policing and maintaining public confidence.
But I also want to talk about the wider reforms to crime and policing I believe are needed to support the work police officers do each day.
Because you are not alone in facing challenges or needing to reform. Some would like to blame the Police Federation for all the pressures and challenges facing policing right now. They would be wrong to do so.
It’s time the Government and the Home Office looked harder at their own policies, at the problems they have created, and started to do their bit to strengthen effective policing and support public confidence.
The debate must be balanced.
Just as it would be wrong to ignore the problems and challenges British policing faces.
It would also be wrong – very wrong – to ignore the great strengths of British policing.
I have huge respect for the officers I meet and talk to throughout the year.
The expertise and high standards of our officers and forces are valued across the world:
- Our model of policing by consent, unarmed police, rooted in neighbourhoods, working with communities to prevent crime not to guard territory
- Our expertise in detection, including forensics and communications
- Our counter terror work – from prevention to dealing with the most serious threats
- Our internationally respected standards and work against corruption
Nor should we underestimate the wide ranging challenges to our communities and our safety that you deal with each day.
From the officer who delivered a baby in a Mercedes show room to the teams working to stop organised criminal gangs trafficking children into slavery.
From searching for a missing dementia patient to coping with terror threats against our nation.
A year ago a young soldier, Lee Rigby was brutally attacked and murdered by Islamist extremists in Woolwich, Greenwich. And a Muslim pensioner, Mohammed Saleem was brutally attacked and murdered by a right wing extremist.
This Thursday marks one year since that appalling crime in Greenwich, so let us pay tribute to a fallen soldier, to both men and their families who endured so much, and to the British people who would not let extremism divide us.
We know the sheer breadth of the policing response to serious attacks like those last summer. From the armed officers at the scene in Greenwich, to the intelligence and counter terrorism experts tracing connections, to the neighbourhood police officers who tracked the Birmingham killer down.
And we pay tribute to those police officers who have died in service this year:
PC Shazahan Wadud
DC Adrian Grew
PC Mick Chapman
PC Andrew Duncan
Hit by the driver of a vehicle he was trying to stop – doing his everyday job.
And I want to pay tribute to the bravery of officers too.
PC Nathan Jackman, still on his probationary period, who arrived at a scene to find a man and woman with shocking knife injuries and their attacker running up the road.
He confronted the armed man, restrained him until others could help with the arrest.
The offender was sentenced to 10 years.
A lot is said about the future of policing – but when that future is a young man, still training, prepared to risk his life to confront a dangerous criminal,
I am certain of this:
The future of policing is built on the bravery and brilliance of those serving on the frontline and they deserve, above all, the respect and gratitude of politicians of all parties.
But whilst there is so much to be proud of in British policing, you know and we know that policing is under pressure as never befor15,000 officers have already gone in the past four years. More are set to go.
Those that are left working harder and longer
It’s very good that overall crime figures have fallen – and tribute to the targeted work so many forces have done.
But the Government claim that means no harm has been done by the scale of cuts and policies they have pursued. Here’s where I disagree:
Look at what is happening to justice for serious crimes.
Violent crime is going up.
Yet the number of violent offenders reaching court is going down.
Sexual offences reported to the police are going up.
Yet prosecutions are going down.
Domestic violence cases reported to the police are going up.
Prosecutions and convictions are going down.
The Government blames the police.
But the truth is that until this Government took over, those prosecutions and convictions were going up not down.
Until this Government cut back specialist units, dropped specialist prosecutors and specialist courts, more of those violent offenders, abusers and rapists were facing justice.
Look at what has happened to neighbourhood policing
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate says that crucial building block of policing work is now being eroded.
And look what is happening to victims of crime when they need help most.
When they dial 999 they are waiting longer and longer for help.
In Devon and Cornwall, waiting times are up by 50%
In Kent by 30%
In Cheshire by 28%.
And it isn’t hard to work out why.
Ministers said they would protect the frontline.
But they have cut the number of response officers from 46,000 to 37,000 in just three years.
So it just isn’t good enough for the Government to blame all the problems on the police.
We all need to reform. We all need to change.
But the Government need to stop blaming others, take more responsibility, and show some positive leadership for a change.
The Police Federation has long argued that reforms are needed. That a new positive vision for 21st century policing was required.
You called for a Royal Commission. The last Royal Commission into policing was fifty years ago. So much has changed since then.
We agreed.
So when the Government didn’t set one up, we did instead.
An independent commission into the future of British policing.
Led by Lord Stevens, former Met Commissioner, it brought together 38 experts – academics, former police officers, community organisers, business leaders, the former heads of Interpol, Europol and MI6.
It surveyed 14,000 officers.
It was a Royal Commission in all but name.
And it went into great detail.
It has set out a clear strong programme for reform
And reforms that build on rather than undermining the office of constable.
I didn’t believe compulsory severance was the right thing for policing when the Government announced it, and I don’t believe it now.
The Independent Commission set out positive reforms including a stronger professional focus that recognises the distinctive skills and experience that police officers need to develop. Building on the College of Policing, developing the idea of a chartered police officer.
Better transparency instead of the current muddled misconduct regime
A new stronger framework to sort things out fast when policing goes wrong. Replacing the IPCC because it just isn’t working to deal with problems swiftly and thoroughly – as it has shown too many times.
A new deal for officers and staff.
The Commission surveyed thousands of police officers, including uniformed officers in neighbourhoods and patrolling their communities.
Of the 14,000 serving officers who responded – only 8 officers said they felt very supported by the current Government.
And too many officers felt they lacked the support they needed within forces too – with too little action to promote the diversity we need in British policing, too little support for officers skills and discretion, too little transparency about career development.
As the report says, “police officers and staff must be treated as a vital resource in the development and delivery of better policing, not simply as the objects of reform.”
And we also need to be smarter about the investment frontline policing needs.
We opposed the government’s 20 per cent cuts to policing
We supported 12 per cent cuts – that would have saved thousands of officers.
Because the economy has been so slow to grow we now face new fiscal challenges.
We are worried about the scale of the further cuts David Cameron and Theresa May are planning.
But we also know there won’t be much money around. So that’s why we are looking now for ways to save the money the police service needs.
It’s crazy that the police service is being forced to subsidise gun owners. So we’d change that to introduce full cost recovery.
And its time criminals paid their way.
In 2012, only 2 per cent of the organised criminals sent to prison having profited from crime paid their debt to society.
Many criminals serve only three or four years of the single sentence allowed for refusing to give the money back.
That’s not right. It’s time to change the law.
So we will put an end to criminals being let out early after refusing to pay. They must pay up or serve their sentence.
And with that and other changes we can plough more resources back into neighbourhood policing and criminal justice.
So let us be clear. There is much that Government, Parliament, and police leaders should be doing – on resources and reforms to rise to the challenge Lord Stevens Commission set out – to deliver a positive vision of policing for the 21st century.
And – as you have made clear – the Police Federation needs to reform too.
Of course change is always challenging. And you will debate the detail this week.
But you were right to start this, and you are right to see it through.
Reform needs to be led and achieved by you in the Federation as David Normington has said.
But we will support you as you do so.
Because the health and reputation of the Police Federation matters not just for you and your members, but for all of us
Set up in statute 95 years ago, your role is vital
Providing voice for your members who rightly cannot strike.
Providing voice for ordinary officers who know what is really going on on the frontline when reforms are planned
Championing the precious principles that lie at the heart of British policing – policing by consent, because the public are the police and the police are the public.
And maintaining the reputation of British policing – rooted in the community, reflecting our diversity, with the highest standards of integrity and effectiveness.
And that’s why the reforms matter.
For you to deal with the problems you see and that Normington has confirmed.
On transparency and openness – because policing has nothing to hide
On financial structures – because you can deliver value for money
On representation – because 91 per cent of your members want change
On diversity that has made Britain stronger, and will make policing stronger
On culture and practice – so you exemplify the best values of British policing that your members champion in their daily work
And on championing the public interest – because a modern, effective Police Federation is in the public interest too.
And I hope you will do so swiftly because you need a secure foundation so you can start looking outwards again at such a crucial time for policing.
And here’s why reform really matters.
At the Police Bravery Awards last year, I had the honour to present an award to the extremely impressive Sara Widdrington, a North Yorkshire PC who tackled a gunman while she was off-duty shopping with her son in Tesco.
Incredible bravery. Remarkable public service.
Outside the awards that night were television cameras and journalists. Their questions weren’t about Sara’s bravery. Instead they were about Police
Federation officials and what went wrong over plebgate.
There’s a lesson for all of us.
Because it isn’t in the interests of the police, more importantly it isn’t in the interests of the public or Parliament for long shadows to be cast over the brilliant work police officers do day in, day out.
It shows how important it is not to allow anything to obscure what the public and you know full well – that our police officers are a shining example to the world, that you risk your own lives to keep us safe and that we all owe you a debt of gratitude.
So let’s make sure that message is not overshadowed any longer.
Policing by consent requires confidence in the work the police do. Respect for the rule of law depends on respect for those charged with enforcing it.
Our British policing traditions and the confidence of the public are too valuable – too vital in a democracy – for any of us to take them for granted or ignore the public.
So let’s all get on with the reforms we know are needed.
In the police federation, in police forces, in Parliament, in Government.
You have an opportunity.
You have a moment.
You need to seize it.
It’s time to rebuild and to champion the principles behind successful policing together.