Giles Orpen-Smellie was the Police & Crime Commissioner for Norfolk 2021-2024.
We need to change the negative narrative about policing.
Police officers do a difficult and often thankless job. They’re the thin blue line that stands between order and chaos and keeps us safe. They’re not perfect but they are pretty good and they need, indeed they deserve, our support. We need to demonstrate this support because disillusioned officers are beginning to vote with their feet. We allow that thin blue line to fade away at our peril.
Yes, policing has had problems, a list of issues topped by the appalling crimes of Couzens and Carrick. At the other end of the spectrum, police competence is constantly questioned, most recently over their handling of non-crime hate allegations. However, is it right that if one police officer somewhere gets it wrong every police officer everywhere gets damned. Why isn’t this constant negativity tempered with any positivity about the good work done by most police officers day after day?
Everyone has an opinion about policing but few understand the realities.
We have unrealistic expectations and we’re quick to criticise but slow to listen when the police can’t satisfy those expectations.
Part of this ‘expectation gap’ is a simple matter of resources: public demands on policing grow year on year; and government legislation gives the police more and more tasks. But, but neither additional demand nor additional tasks come with additional resources. Let’s be clear, the 20,000 extra officers of the Conservative government’s Police Uplift Programme only replaced those officers lost under Austerity. Meanwhile, a constant requirement to find financial ‘efficiencies’ in the face of inflation or unfunded cost pressures continues to erode police capabilities.
Another part of this ‘expectation gap’ is the incoherence of the wider criminal justice system.
The police may only detain an arrested offender for up to 24 hours. The CPS usually has 28 days to decide whether to charge (they often take longer, for example: five months to charge JSO protestors who sprayed paint on Stonehenge). Meanwhile, the offender returns to the streets, free to offend again … and again. The public blame the police for a failure to act, but there’s a wider systemic incoherence that obstructs timely, effective, and hopefully deterrent justice. The police are left to deal with ever increasing repeat offenders and yet more dissatisfied victims of crimes.
We need to review what we’re asking our police officers to do. Are we asking them to take on too much? Are we asking them to enforce sensible legislation? What should policing and the criminal justice system do to deliver effective law, order and community safety? Do the police and criminal justice system have the resources they need to satisfy that requirement? If resources are insufficient then what should the police not do to redirect resources to core tasks, as they did with the ‘Right Person Right Care’ approach to mental health. The 2019 Conservative manifesto promised a Royal Commission to look at the criminal justice system but sadly that didn’t happen.
We also need to review how we hold policing to account. Policing isn’t perfect but the pursuit of perfection is becoming the enemy of the good. Policing is more regulated and scrutinised than probably any other public service.
Have we gone too far?
The negative narrative might suggest that we have not gone far enough, yet officers already work with one hand tied behind their backs. For example, the public cries out for action on knife crime but the regulation and scrutiny of stop-and-search hampers efforts to address knife crime. We need to review the purpose and effectiveness of the scrutiny functions of PCCs, IOPC, HMICFRS, the College of Policing, chief constables and force Professional Standards’ Departments. We need to allow police officers to do their jobs with both hands free, without fear of suspension and prosecution when they do their jobs correctly, while still providing appropriate scrutiny to satisfy public confidence.
The greater threat to public confidence in policing now lies less in misconduct and more in the possibility of an exodus of officers. Police officers may be vocational people who run toward danger when others run the other way. However, they are also human: they want to know that what they do is appreciated. Given the constant negative narrative of the moment many are wondering why they bother. It should be no surprise that their loved ones, the most influential people in officers’ lives, are also asking them why they bother? Police officers are beginning to answer that question by voting with their feet.
The questions posed have no easy answers.
Nevertheless, Conservatives must develop a clear plan for the future of policing, criminal justice and community safety. In the meantime, we must stand with and support our police. Yes, things will go wrong and when they do those failings must be addressed. But, we must be equally clear that the vast majority of police officers are loyal, hard working and dedicated to the public they service. We need those officers to stay. The thin blue line must not be allowed to fade away.
We need to change the negative narrative about policing.
Giles Orpen-Smellie was the Police & Crime Commissioner for Norfolk 2021-2024.
We need to change the negative narrative about policing.
Police officers do a difficult and often thankless job. They’re the thin blue line that stands between order and chaos and keeps us safe. They’re not perfect but they are pretty good and they need, indeed they deserve, our support. We need to demonstrate this support because disillusioned officers are beginning to vote with their feet. We allow that thin blue line to fade away at our peril.
Yes, policing has had problems, a list of issues topped by the appalling crimes of Couzens and Carrick. At the other end of the spectrum, police competence is constantly questioned, most recently over their handling of non-crime hate allegations. However, is it right that if one police officer somewhere gets it wrong every police officer everywhere gets damned. Why isn’t this constant negativity tempered with any positivity about the good work done by most police officers day after day?
Everyone has an opinion about policing but few understand the realities.
We have unrealistic expectations and we’re quick to criticise but slow to listen when the police can’t satisfy those expectations.
Part of this ‘expectation gap’ is a simple matter of resources: public demands on policing grow year on year; and government legislation gives the police more and more tasks. But, but neither additional demand nor additional tasks come with additional resources. Let’s be clear, the 20,000 extra officers of the Conservative government’s Police Uplift Programme only replaced those officers lost under Austerity. Meanwhile, a constant requirement to find financial ‘efficiencies’ in the face of inflation or unfunded cost pressures continues to erode police capabilities.
Another part of this ‘expectation gap’ is the incoherence of the wider criminal justice system.
The police may only detain an arrested offender for up to 24 hours. The CPS usually has 28 days to decide whether to charge (they often take longer, for example: five months to charge JSO protestors who sprayed paint on Stonehenge). Meanwhile, the offender returns to the streets, free to offend again … and again. The public blame the police for a failure to act, but there’s a wider systemic incoherence that obstructs timely, effective, and hopefully deterrent justice. The police are left to deal with ever increasing repeat offenders and yet more dissatisfied victims of crimes.
We need to review what we’re asking our police officers to do. Are we asking them to take on too much? Are we asking them to enforce sensible legislation? What should policing and the criminal justice system do to deliver effective law, order and community safety? Do the police and criminal justice system have the resources they need to satisfy that requirement? If resources are insufficient then what should the police not do to redirect resources to core tasks, as they did with the ‘Right Person Right Care’ approach to mental health. The 2019 Conservative manifesto promised a Royal Commission to look at the criminal justice system but sadly that didn’t happen.
We also need to review how we hold policing to account. Policing isn’t perfect but the pursuit of perfection is becoming the enemy of the good. Policing is more regulated and scrutinised than probably any other public service.
Have we gone too far?
The negative narrative might suggest that we have not gone far enough, yet officers already work with one hand tied behind their backs. For example, the public cries out for action on knife crime but the regulation and scrutiny of stop-and-search hampers efforts to address knife crime. We need to review the purpose and effectiveness of the scrutiny functions of PCCs, IOPC, HMICFRS, the College of Policing, chief constables and force Professional Standards’ Departments. We need to allow police officers to do their jobs with both hands free, without fear of suspension and prosecution when they do their jobs correctly, while still providing appropriate scrutiny to satisfy public confidence.
The greater threat to public confidence in policing now lies less in misconduct and more in the possibility of an exodus of officers. Police officers may be vocational people who run toward danger when others run the other way. However, they are also human: they want to know that what they do is appreciated. Given the constant negative narrative of the moment many are wondering why they bother. It should be no surprise that their loved ones, the most influential people in officers’ lives, are also asking them why they bother? Police officers are beginning to answer that question by voting with their feet.
The questions posed have no easy answers.
Nevertheless, Conservatives must develop a clear plan for the future of policing, criminal justice and community safety. In the meantime, we must stand with and support our police. Yes, things will go wrong and when they do those failings must be addressed. But, we must be equally clear that the vast majority of police officers are loyal, hard working and dedicated to the public they service. We need those officers to stay. The thin blue line must not be allowed to fade away.
We need to change the negative narrative about policing.