Clive Chamberlain, chair of Dorset Police Federation, takes a different look at life
Lessons from history fall on deaf ears
“What experience and history teach is this – that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” So said the philosopher George Hegel, and he’s spot on, certainly from what is currently being imposed on our police service.
Twenty percent cuts have seen a cull in the numbers of police officers, with the inevitable decline in the service that is provided to our communities. Sadly there is worse to come as nationwide, constables disappear from neighbourhood policing teams, stations close and whole teams are disbanded, including in some forces the scrapping of roads policing (traffic departments) and roads safety officers.
Chief officers are compelled to take tough decisions to meet growing demands, against the backdrop of challenging budgets and a running commentary from politicians, the media and just out of short trousers ‘think-tankers’ – who all know best.
To learn from history one has only to look back to the 1960s, when Bobbies were plucked from beats and placed in cars. It was a necessary move in order to provide a timely response to incidents, but to do so on such a large scale inevitably led to the loss of community contact as we became distant to a whole generation. There has been some partial recovery from this, with the advent of neighbourhood community teams, but these are now under threat as forces struggle to match resources to demand.
As the softer side of policing is handed over to private security companies and PCSOs the opportunity for Bobbies to interact in non-emergency situations is diminishing. We are in acute danger of losing contact with yet another generation and of becoming distant, remote figures – only there to enforce the law. Do we really want to become the English equivalent of France’s Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS)?
In the absence of a long overdue Royal Commission there needs to be public debate. Two questions that I suggest are “What are the Police for?” and “Do communities want a police service or a police force?”
In the current financial climate both are not possible! What do you think?
Clive Chamberlain
