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Amber Rudd accepted public invitation in front of audience of hundreds but has not visited frontline officers.

The Home Secretary has been accused of going back on her word by dodging an invitation she had accepted from West Yorkshire Police Federation to see the demands placed on frontline officers.

Nick Smart, chairman of West Yorkshire Police Federation, said it was "nothing short of a disgrace" that Amber Rudd visited the county for two days last week but did not speak to officers about the pressures they are under and the level of demand they face.

At the Police Federation Conference in May the politician faced down heavy criticism from Mr Smart about the unacceptable pressure officers are under by telling him that if re-elected she would visit the force to spend time with frontline officers.

But the staff association says that the Home Office has still not responded to a written invitation sent in May.

Last week Ms Rudd visited the county for two days but did not see any officers, or visit a single police station.

Mr Smart said: “Whenever there’s a major disaster or whenever officers deal with a terrorist incident, or run towards danger, are badly injured or sadly make the ultimate sacrifice, we hear plenty of plaudits and platitudes from the governing politicians who make the decisions on police funding and pay.

“But they can save the fake plaudits and platitudes on behalf of the government, because if they really cared about what police officers did, they would actually go and visit them, and keep their promises, and just listen to them about what the demand is like.”

A statement from the Fed branch pointed out that there are now 1,038 fewer officers in West Yorkshire than there had been in 2010 and 87 per cent of those remaining say they suffer from low morale.

He added: “Amber Rudd has not seen it fit to go and speak to any police officers or visit any police stations within West Yorkshire to look at demand, workloads, and listen to officers and see at first-hand what we face - as she promised to do at conference when I challenged her. She has reneged on her promise to come and see for herself.

“They simply don’t want to hear it. They don’t want to hear that there’s a national crisis in policing.

“It’s see no evil, hear no evil. We’re not crying wolf, we’re telling them how it is and they simply want to avoid these difficult home truths.”

The Home Office did not respond to a request for comment before this article was set live.

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[Hyphen + 693]

Some really good comments made by Nick Smart. It is a complete disgrace the way this government go on and hide behind the sound bites with no idea of the reality of what is happening.

Unfortunately I don't think anything will change

[Cathedral Bobby + 1,174]

Although no longer a HO territorial officer I am angry the way the police have been decimated by Tory governments and Home Secretaries who have no realisation, or apparent interest what it is like for officers on the front line. They are not viewed as a priority service even though they backfill for shortfalls in so many other services. As a country we should be ashamed the way our leaders cherish the bankers and the City; the rest of us can go and whistle. The Tories were traditionally the political home for bobbies, but I think there is no longer any party that we can say is the natural law and order party.

[Beaker 817]

Well any shortfall will be taken up by Specials and Volunteers won't it? *

 

*Sarcasm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cathedral Bobby + 1,174]

5 minutes ago, Beaker said:

Well any shortfall will be taken up by Specials and Volunteers won't it? *

 

The number of specials has gone down, not up. Where are all these super volunteers who will help investigate cyber, complex fraud crime etc. Just not there. You're right to be sarcastic. The position is now serious and police unable to even effectively meet response calls. Hence along with a couple of other none HO officers we would like to campaign for more creative ways to support local policing.

[Beaker 817]

The number of specials has gone down, not up. Where are all these super volunteers who will help investigate cyber, complex fraud crime etc. Just not there. You're right to be sarcastic. The position is now serious and police unable to even effectively meet response calls. Hence along with a couple of other none HO officers we would like to campaign for more creative ways to support local policing.

Also the situation with SCs is worse than the headline figures suggest as IIRC the estimation is that only about 1/3rd of them are actually IPS/S&L at any time. So you can say 1000 specials are in a force, but only about 350 will be a fully usable resource.

[Mac7 808]

The Home Secretary does not want to hear what the realities of policing are at present. The bigger problem is that the NPCC just tell her what she wants to hear. Which is why time and time again she says phrases such as "Chief constables have the resources they require."

If she did meet front line officers I can imagine they would have been selected by senior officers from a promotion hungry group.

I know one of the bobbies in my force who helps run the volunteer programme. I was told that the initial uplift in volunteer was successful, however, getting them to come back week in week out has been problematic and many have since left.

[Beaker 817]

13 minutes ago, Mac7 said:

I know one of the bobbies in my force who helps run the volunteer programme. I was told that the initial uplift in volunteer was successful, however, getting them to come back week in week out has been problematic and many have since left.

I've also met a few SCs who are going 16 hours per month, bang on.  No more, no less.  "Want to join the police" is their motivation when I've asked, I'm not sure what my intake's drop out rate is as we're spread out over the county, but I know of a couple have packed it in already. 

[Cathedral Bobby + 1,174]

PolFed has been undermined, ridiculed and seen its activities and powers curtailed just the same as every other public service union. The authority of police chiefs has been curtailed by watering down ACPO and splitting off responsibilities between the CoP and NPCC, and additionally having to dance to the tune of PCCs. The CoP is a business which needs to be self funding and therefore dances to its own survival tune. In essence all major police bodies have no real political clout. Local government has completely been cut out of policing. All this serves to ensure the police cannot challenge effectively the Home Office, Home Secretary or the Government. There is no strong or co-ordinated voice representing police officers' or community views. Game, set and match to the Government.

[JWadd 24]

Different story with the Military, the Queen actually goes out, visits and talks to serving personnel.

 

[Cathedral Bobby + 1,174]

That's difference between a Commander in Chief and a Clown in Chief unfortunately the police have the latter

[Ether + 1,401]

On 03/09/2017 at 15:09, Beaker said:

Well any shortfall will be taken up by Specials and Volunteers won't it? *

 

*Sarcasm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NHS are missing a trick here, can't wait for volunteer Dictors and Dentists