‘Policing is one of the most challenging and risky occupations-these humans are heroes in my view and deserve better pay and better recognition.’

East Area BCU Commander Stuart Bell today writes his response to a recent article in the Havering Daily on Frontline Policing and its challenges.

As BCU Commander for the East Area of London I am incredibly proud of all the officers under my command who work tirelessly to serve the public – we have a body of dedicated officers who do remarkable things on a daily basis under some of the most incredible pressure. 

Policing is one of the most challenging and risky occupations and I know the recent public dialogue and press coverage around failings in the MPS can weigh heavily on those good officers who work unsociable hours, miss family occasions, deal with violence, distress and take personal risks as part of their work. These humans are heroes in my view and deserve better pay and better recognition. The small minority of officers who undermine those efforts need to be sacked and prosecuted and we are doing that.  

This pressure can be felt most acutely in our response officers – the people who are there day and night to respond to the emergency calls, not knowing what awaits them when they arrive on scene. Often its violence, abuse, terrified victims and scenes of unspeakable horror and distress. They deal, they move on to the next call, they go home to loved ones – sometimes hours after they are supposed to. Sometimes never. On average two officers are assaulted in my area every day as they serve the public. This is never acceptable and we have in place some strong support for those who encounter this and action is taken to ensure we prosecute the perpetrators. 

I am very much aware of the significant challenges faced by our response officers and am working with my senior leadership team to better equip them to succeed and give the best possible service to the public. Too often in the past this hasn’t been the case. We know that more resources are needed to equip and support our emergency response teams, and we are working to increase the number of officers, training opportunities and vehicles. 

On East Area Command we now have more officers than we did 12 months ago and have prioritised response numbers, we have provided more driving courses and we are already seeing the arrival of new fleet vehicles as part of the plan to improve our vehicle numbers and new IT to make the job easier. 

I am determined that we provide our front line officers with the equipment they need to perform their role safely and successfully and there is a lot more to do in that regard. I speak to these officers regularly and they just want to be supported and equipped properly. I’m doing all I can locally to achieve that.

In addition, our investigation team has expanded, meaning that emergency response officers can hand over more cases to dedicated investigators, freeing them up to respond to more emergency calls and giving victims a better service. We hope to take this further. We have seen our response improve consistently over the past 12 months.

Large scale events such as Trooping of the Colour, protests, and more recent the King’s Coronation, also take officers away from their core roles. There are challenges for us when such events happen, often resulting in shift changes, which is not always ideal, but it’s part of policing a capital city. Wherever possible we avoid cancelling officer rest days but unfortunately that does still happen.  

We have other policing challenges outside of the response teams that cannot be ignored. Policing drugs and knife crime is incredibly challenging, and we work closely with our borough partners to target offenders, disrupt the activities of drug dealers and to divert young people away from gang culture and violent crime. Violence against women and girls and protecting vulnerable people and targeting those causing the most harm to communities is critical work. Preventing and reducing crime in the first place remains our fundamental point of existence and we are investing in Neighbourhood policing to achieve this. 

We catch offenders daily, removing weapons and drugs from the street and work with schools, youth groups and local authorities to tackle underlying issues and educating our young people around grooming and gangs. Sadly, knife crime is a significant challenge, and too often we see lives being lost with each one sending shock waves throughout our communities. We are seeing our efforts to reduce knife crime start to take hold and this is reducing in recent months.

As senior leaders we are listening to the concerns of our officers and we are taking steps to address the issues they raise, whether they be local or problems for policing on a national level. Through internal engagement schemes, we are not only listening to officers, but are also rewarding and recognising good work. We capture every issue they raise and seek to resolve it, asking them to hold senior leaders to account.

Response policing is a difficult and demanding job role all year round.  Response Policing Week was introduced nationally by the National College of Policing to highlight the sort of work the officers deal with day in day out. Response officers have one of the most difficult, dangerous and demanding roles in policing and what they do every day is critical to Londoners and the communities they serve – we should recognise that 365 days a year.  

They take risks, they take abuse, they can be injured in the line of duty – their normal working day involves them dealing with some of the most distressing and difficult situations. 

I am incredibly proud of every officer who reports for duty day after day with the determination to make a difference, and I am committed to ensuring that conditions and equipment continue to improve for those officers.

Our mission is to provide a better service to the public. To do this we must retain our best officers and support them and lead them more effectively. We need public scrutiny and to be held to account, but we also need support and praise where it is deserved. We also need to recruit talented people and attract Londoners to join the Service. Despite the challenges of policing it remains a remarkable profession, a fascinating career and I would encourage anyone interested to contact us for more information.

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