What About All The Officers Answering 999 Calls? Why Do They Not Count?

Yesterday was a day that endless former police officers flooded our broadcasting channels to give their opinion on the findings of the Casey report. Most were negative and it was a very small few that actually went in to support those who once again this morning are preparing themselves to work the London streets despite the endless labels they face.

The former officers’ opinions do not count, we have heard their constant narrative endlessly, it is the voices of the victims, the everyday Londoners and our own frontline officers whose voices count the most. Has anyone actually asked those across the many London boroughs what their thoughts on the Met Police are? We did and you will find that they do not share this constant negative narrative these former officers peddle daily.

Here is a quote from one Londoner: “My family have been through hell since mum was killed in her home.The one constant tower of strength is the support from our Met Police Team. I personally can’t praise them high enough. First class. Let’s not let the bad apples spoil the reputation of so many great ones.”

Baroness Casey has produced a very thorough report. Her findings highlight endless failures that need to be urgently addressed, I think we all know that by now. The key factors have been the lack of leadership and support in rooting out all those that should never have been allowed to join our police force and the years and years of austerity cuts that have left this police force broken in many ways.

As politicians all point the finger at Met officers, they may well also want to address the fact that it has suffered years of horrendous cuts that have left it in taters. 126 police stations have closed, this has made a huge impact across the streets of London. Officers have shouted their concerns for so many years pleading politicians to not close police stations as the results would be catastrophic and here we are.

Why is no one addressing the fact that this force is broken also due to these cuts? The public has been complaining for years that there is no visible police presence on our streets. Basic Command Units struggle to get teams out daily, something this report highlighted. An increase in population and a reduced police force does not provide good results.

A weakened vetting system due to financial constraints has meant we have seen some horrendous officers join who clearly should not be there. The likes of Carrick and Couzens have thrived in a culture that should have been stamped out years ago, instead it has continued to thrive. This culture needs to be eradicated, it has no place in our society, let alone our police forces.

The public also see that our everyday officers on the ground are the ones that take the brunt of the abuse. Those in the highest ranking positions appear to have a very remote understanding of what actually goes on in the communities and often fail to support their frontline officers.

Years of continuous abuse and underfunding has left frontline policing and neighbourhood policing broken, yet it is the backbone of policing. It is our frontline officers that answer the 999 calls, our frontline officers that come to our help when we need it, that have no canteen, that have poor working conditions, that undergo regular traumatic experiences and have no time to process their own mental health. That experience daily abuse, assaults, spat at, targeted, and very hostile situations.

The report highlighted how broken these officers are and that it is time they are finally supported.

Today, despite having the finger pointed at them by the many, they will be back on our streets doing their job under very difficult circumstances.

Get rid of the rot now, remove it once and for all. Start looking after your officers and giving them the right support and start pushing the need to finally have a well funded police service looking after London.

To finish, here is another quote by a member of the public: “People are forgetting the good police officers do and what a hard job it is.”

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