Police leaders ramp up pressure on Government ahead of spending review
The police and crime commissioners for West Midlands and Hertfordshire joined a growing number of leaders pushing for more funding in the next three years.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is due to set out her spending plans on Wednesday, and is expected to give above-inflation increases in the policing budget.
But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has yet to reach a settlement with the Treasury as she will reportedly face cuts in other parts of her department.
On Monday, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster called for the reinstatement of 700 officers the force has seen cut since 2010, while Hertfordshire's PCC Jonathan Ash-Edwards warned the force is facing a growing burden.
Their comments followed warnings by the president of the Police Superintendents' Association Nick Smart, and Tiff Lynch, acting national chairman for the Police Federation of England and Wales.
The pair wrote in an article for the Daily Telegraph that policing is in 'crisis', with young officers not paid enough to live on and more senior colleagues leaving because they are burned out.
They said: 'It is not enough to talk about 'tough on crime'. There must be funding to match.
'What the police service needs is sustained investment in structures, people and new technology, so that chiefs can plan long term and deliver a service that is fit for purpose.'
In December, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) warned that forces in England and Wales were facing a £1.3 billion shortfall over the next two years.
And last month, head of the Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Rowley joined with head of the NPCC Gavin Stephens and four other chief constables to call for more investment.
They wrote in an article for the Times: 'A lack of investment will bake in the structural inefficiencies for another three years and will lose a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the service.'
Mr Foster claimed West Midlands Police, one of the largest police forces in England and Wales, has been 'short-changed'.
'We still have nearly 700 fewer police officers than in 2010, despite rising demand and increasing complexity in the nature of crime,' he said.
'However, many other police force areas now have more police officers than they have ever had in their force histories.
'That is not fair and it is not just. The West Midlands has been short-changed for far too long. It's time for the Government to take this opportunity to put that right.'
He called for changes to the formula used to calculate the funding given to each force, saying that it disadvantages urban forces.
Hertfordshire's PCC Mr Ash-Edwards said: 'Policing faces significant demands and pressures and now needs a sustained funding boost to deliver on local and national crime fighting priorities.
'Hertfordshire is one of the lower funded police forces nationally, with the fifth lowest council tax precept.
'The last year has seen an unfunded pay award, the hike in National Insurance contributions not fully reimbursed as promised and new proposals to weaken sentences for many crimes which is likely to increase the burden on policing.
'It is essential that a different direction is set out in the spending review.'
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