Damning report reveals public ‘at risk’ as police cuts see fugitives left free and investigations binned
Criminals are left roaming streets and top investigations binned due overstretched police force
THE state of policing is blasted as “potentially perilous” in a damning report published today.
The official watchdog accuses some forces of putting the public at risk by downgrading some serious 999 calls to save sending officers immediately.
Fugitives are being left free and investigations binned, said Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Report author Zoe Billingham criticised forces for not doing enough to track down thousands of suspects on the Police National Computer.
A total of 45,960 were on it last August, including 1,012 rapists and 343 killers.
Yet details of a further 67,000 had not even been fed into the database.
The report concluded 2,700 sex offenders had not been fully assessed and only 19 per cent of the public had seen a beat bobby in the past month.
There is also a nationwide shortage of experienced detectives.
The report said: “HMIC has serious concerns that in too many forces there is a lack of grip, supervision, active management, pursuit and tracking down of wanted suspects.”
Budgets have been slashed 22 per cent since 2010 and cop numbers have fallen by 21,500 officers.
Ms Billingham accepted forces were trying to grapple with the cuts but said she was raising a red flag to warn of an unconscious form of rationing of police services.
She revealed a minority of unnamed forces are downgrading 999 calls where there is a shortage of officers, with incidents of domestic violence re-graded from high risk to medium.
Some forces are even neglecting to classify dangerous gangs as organised crime groups because it will stretch resources, said the report.
The inspectorate also said forces were not keeping pace with technology and cyber crime.
Police Federation chairman Steve White said it was a wake-up call.
He added: “The Federation has been pointing out the pitfalls of continually axing police budgets and warning that it will actually hurt the very people we have pledged to protect — the public.”