Yes politicians do deserve to be protected as does the public-but the public did not make brutal police cuts.

‘It is these officers in our communities that everyday perform actions that are life saving and heroic. They are faced with conditions and situations that for many are incomprehensible.’

This year we face another General Election.Politicians are calling on police officers to offer them maximum protection after the targeting of a senior Tory’s home by protesters.This is wholly unacceptable. What is is also important to note, is that these politicians were there to cut police numbers and leave officer numbers in the total taters that we see today.

The majority of officer cuts have been from our frontline. 20,564 officers have been lost since 2010, 20,211, that’s a figure of 98% have been frontline officer cuts. We were then of course told, that in three years these officers would be replaced. Here we are in 2024 and how many of these have been replaced? How many experienced officers have we lost with a wealth of policing knowledge behind them?

The Met we know is particularly struggling to recruit. Not a surprise to anyone by all means. Not a day goes by that the Met is not in the headlines for some reason or another. Many justified reasons, many not. Sadly the many, many hard working and dedicated officers that there are across London doing an outstanding job in our community always goes unnoticed.

We saw last week a group of off duty officers in South London rush to stop a man wielding a machete in a park. This incident highlighted the bravery of our officers who without thought for their own safety ran to stop the individual from attacking members of the public. For these officers, it was probably just another job, but it served to clearly demonstrate to the public just how difficult an officer’s job is today.

It is these officers in our communities that everyday perform actions that are life saving and heroic. They are faced with conditions and situations that for many are incomprehensible. The level of violence on our streets is high. From knife crime to shootings, all in a day’s work for officers.

Yes, politicians do deserve to be protected as does the public. However the public did not cut police numbers back, the public shouted for more police numbers as they still do to see an increase police presence on our streets and as part of our daily community.

Once again it is worth noting that right across the country there are thousands of officers heading to work that will be faced with endless challenges and obstacles, but ultimately are there to put their life on the line to save ours.

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