Suella Braverman MP is Home Secretary, and is MP for Fareham.
Without the police, our society would collapse into disorder. They are one of the foundations of our democracy. At their best they are quite superb, and heroic. Officers run towards danger and keep us safe.
But the powers we invest in the police can be very attractive to people with bad intentions. Some officers have abused public trust in the most horrific ways imaginable.
And so – along with supporting the large majority of officers who are dedicated to serving the public with decency and pride – I am cracking down on those who are not fit to wear the uniform. We must get rid of them, urgently.
The police must get the basics right. Policing is a difficult job with a simple mission: to keep the public safe. That takes considerable skill and a strong character. It doesn’t necessarily require a degree. Since 2021, police recruits have had to have a degree or to join as an apprentice while they earn a qualification. This is a mistake.
Many people who neither have nor want a degree have served in the police with distinction, just as they have in the military. A degree is only one measure of ability; someone without one might have excellent technological skills or high emotional intelligence. Demanding a degree does not help our efforts to ensure that police officers reflect the communities they serve.
The College of Policing has modernised police entry routes into policing, with its Policing Education Qualifications Framework. The Initial Police Learning and Development Programme is currently supposed to end on March 31 this year.
As things stood, this would have closed off options for potential recruits who didn’t have or want a degree, such as former military servicemen and women. Sixteen Police and Crime Commissioners told me they wanted to make it easier to take in officers who don’t want degrees. I have listened and acted.
I have asked the College to look again and produce options for a new non-degree entry route, to complement the existing framework, and am considering extending the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme in the meantime.
Insisting on degrees is an example of pointless red tape, and I want to get rid of all such bureaucratic burdens. Sir Stephen House’s Operational Productivity Review is designed to do just that.
I will give the police all the powers and resources they need to combat anti-social behaviour and crime. Since I became Home Secretary, I have secured a commitment from all forces to attend every residential burglary, introduced legislation for tackling disruptive protests, and worked hard to improve police efficiency. This, rather than non-crime hate incidents, is what police should focus on.
The Safer Streets Fund has to date supported 270 projects designed to cut neighbourhood crimes such as theft and burglary, as well as anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. The police’s Grip programme, which increases patrols in crime hotspots, and violence reduction units – which I have championed – have prevented an estimated 136,000 violent offences.
I have backed the used of stop and search to tackle violent crime and we are bringing in serious violence disruption orders imminently. I’ve also sent a clear message that there should be no politically-correct distractions and that officers should arrest protestors who cause chaos, not stand around posing for photos with them.
Police officers are supposed to protect us. When they hurt people, the whole country is shaken. Less than two years after the terrible rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving policeman, another officer in the same unit has plead guilty to multiple evil crimes.
Men such as this should never be given a badge or wear the uniform – let alone to behave in this abhorrent way while hiding in plain sight for years. It is only thanks to the heroism of his victims in coming forward that he was stopped.
Nor are these isolated incidents. In recent years a great deal of vile behaviour has been uncovered, including sexual abuse, corruption, racism, and homophobia. This isn’t just shocking and disgusting. It shatters public confidence in the police.
I will overhaul the way that police officers are recruited and vetted.
Every police force in the country is urgently checking their officers and staff against the police intelligence database, to help root out anyone unfit to serve who might have slipped through the net.
It needs to be easier to sack bad officers. I am reviewing the current police dismissals process, to ensure bureaucracy and unnecessary procedure does not prevail over ethics and common sense. Police vetting guidance will be strengthened, ensuring that staff are crystal clear on what to do when conducting checks on new recruits – and understand that it is their legal duty to go by the book.
Lady Elish Angiolini’s review of police vetting processes and toxic culture will now include the Carrick case. And I have discussed with Sir Mark Rowley his plan to reform the Metropolitan Police Force. This will be an ongoing conversation.
At their best, our police are the best in the world. Nothing less than the best is good enough.
Suella Braverman MP is Home Secretary, and is MP for Fareham.
Without the police, our society would collapse into disorder. They are one of the foundations of our democracy. At their best they are quite superb, and heroic. Officers run towards danger and keep us safe.
But the powers we invest in the police can be very attractive to people with bad intentions. Some officers have abused public trust in the most horrific ways imaginable.
And so – along with supporting the large majority of officers who are dedicated to serving the public with decency and pride – I am cracking down on those who are not fit to wear the uniform. We must get rid of them, urgently.
The police must get the basics right. Policing is a difficult job with a simple mission: to keep the public safe. That takes considerable skill and a strong character. It doesn’t necessarily require a degree. Since 2021, police recruits have had to have a degree or to join as an apprentice while they earn a qualification. This is a mistake.
Many people who neither have nor want a degree have served in the police with distinction, just as they have in the military. A degree is only one measure of ability; someone without one might have excellent technological skills or high emotional intelligence. Demanding a degree does not help our efforts to ensure that police officers reflect the communities they serve.
The College of Policing has modernised police entry routes into policing, with its Policing Education Qualifications Framework. The Initial Police Learning and Development Programme is currently supposed to end on March 31 this year.
As things stood, this would have closed off options for potential recruits who didn’t have or want a degree, such as former military servicemen and women. Sixteen Police and Crime Commissioners told me they wanted to make it easier to take in officers who don’t want degrees. I have listened and acted.
I have asked the College to look again and produce options for a new non-degree entry route, to complement the existing framework, and am considering extending the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme in the meantime.
Insisting on degrees is an example of pointless red tape, and I want to get rid of all such bureaucratic burdens. Sir Stephen House’s Operational Productivity Review is designed to do just that.
I will give the police all the powers and resources they need to combat anti-social behaviour and crime. Since I became Home Secretary, I have secured a commitment from all forces to attend every residential burglary, introduced legislation for tackling disruptive protests, and worked hard to improve police efficiency. This, rather than non-crime hate incidents, is what police should focus on.
The Safer Streets Fund has to date supported 270 projects designed to cut neighbourhood crimes such as theft and burglary, as well as anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. The police’s Grip programme, which increases patrols in crime hotspots, and violence reduction units – which I have championed – have prevented an estimated 136,000 violent offences.
I have backed the used of stop and search to tackle violent crime and we are bringing in serious violence disruption orders imminently. I’ve also sent a clear message that there should be no politically-correct distractions and that officers should arrest protestors who cause chaos, not stand around posing for photos with them.
Police officers are supposed to protect us. When they hurt people, the whole country is shaken. Less than two years after the terrible rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving policeman, another officer in the same unit has plead guilty to multiple evil crimes.
Men such as this should never be given a badge or wear the uniform – let alone to behave in this abhorrent way while hiding in plain sight for years. It is only thanks to the heroism of his victims in coming forward that he was stopped.
Nor are these isolated incidents. In recent years a great deal of vile behaviour has been uncovered, including sexual abuse, corruption, racism, and homophobia. This isn’t just shocking and disgusting. It shatters public confidence in the police.
I will overhaul the way that police officers are recruited and vetted.
Every police force in the country is urgently checking their officers and staff against the police intelligence database, to help root out anyone unfit to serve who might have slipped through the net.
It needs to be easier to sack bad officers. I am reviewing the current police dismissals process, to ensure bureaucracy and unnecessary procedure does not prevail over ethics and common sense. Police vetting guidance will be strengthened, ensuring that staff are crystal clear on what to do when conducting checks on new recruits – and understand that it is their legal duty to go by the book.
Lady Elish Angiolini’s review of police vetting processes and toxic culture will now include the Carrick case. And I have discussed with Sir Mark Rowley his plan to reform the Metropolitan Police Force. This will be an ongoing conversation.
At their best, our police are the best in the world. Nothing less than the best is good enough.