Graham reports back from Friends of Scholes Park meeting
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by Lib Dem team on 20 December, 2017
Following an incident last weekend with a large number of youths committing vandalism and anti-social behaviour in Cheadle village, there was some criticism of the Police response.
Inspector Walsh responded with a detailed – and very thoughtful – post on the local Police Facebook page and we felt it was right to publish that in full.
19 CommentsIt is a real shame that a group of young offenders decided to cause the level of disruption and criminal acts that we saw in Cheadle yesterday. Such attacks on decent communities are emotive, understandably so and clearly evidenced by the number of responses my post raised during the evening.
The investigation into the offences and our efforts to identify the persons responsible continues, and you have my assurance that we are exploring every line of enquiry. Again I ask that you contact us with any information that may assist us.
Policing has changed dramatically during my career and is more complex now than it has ever been. During my early service the usual trend was for incoming calls to tail off after midnight during the week, and weekdays rarely saw any urgent calls for help. This is no longer the case and the concept of busy weekends / quiet week disappeared long ago. The reality is a constant demand for our services every hour of every day and the nature of that demand is more challenging, compounded by a reduction of just under two thousand officers within GMP.
So, to put this in context, let’s look at yesterday. During the morning shift there were 77 incidents reported to the Police in Stockport. On top of those “new” incidents there were 64 incidents already in the queue requiring allocation, plus 24 awaiting contact calls to schedule appointments. There were 9 missing person investigations, 3 detainees in custody that required to be interviewed and have subsequent file build for referral to the Crown Prosecution Service. In addition to this workload there were investigation handovers from overnight that needed witness statements and CCTV enquiries completing, and there were 4 arrests outstanding for priority offenders. This was just the demand of the one shift, and doesn’t take into account the crime enquiries that each officer was carrying from previous days and weeks.
The length of time to deal with any one incident varies with the nature of each one. For example, today we are dealing with a report of sexual assault that requires four officers to deal with the initial enquiries and to support the victim. So, the numbers I have quoted above mask a degree of demand that may take days to complete.
Whilst I know that we have the genuine support of most people, it is disappointing to read comments such as “the Police aren’t interested” or that we “don’t care”. I don’t know anyone that joined the Police to not care. I doubt there are many doctors or nurses that joined the health service because they don’t like treating sick people either. When the calls came in about Cheadle yesterday two of the local officers were on the verge of finishing their shift. Recognising the gravity of the offences, they put their uniforms back on and went straight back out again, finishing over two hours late. They did this because they do care about what goes on within their community, and that’s why they are Neighbourhood Police Officers.
The emergency services are unique in that we have little influence over our incoming demand. On the whole we have to respond to what is placed in front of us, and with fewer resources. This means that we have to triage the demand and respond to urgent incidents first. It also means that we have to make some tough decisions and not send resources when there is no additional value to other methods, such as dealing with some matters over the telephone.
I am not one for defending the Police Service at every turn, and I’m experienced enough to recognise that we don’t get things right every time. The nature of our beast is that we have to deal with every extreme of human behaviour and emotion, from distraught victims through to obnoxious and callous offenders. As such we have thicker skin than most but we are human, and we do our best in unprecedented circumstances. There are things at a Force and national level that could be improved, but are beyond the influence of the officers and staff you see on the streets who genuinely want to help.
As always, should you have any concerns please email us at cheadle@gmp.police.uk and we will get back to you.
Inspector Pete Walsh
Nice read Inspector Walsh but doesn’t make for satisfying the local community that policing in Cheadle is adequate and a safe place to be, you won’t change national policy, we” just wait until someone’s seriously injured or killed next time!
I don’t think anyone is claiming that we can change national policy. Clearly the police are greatly underfunded, and yesterday the Conservatives announced yet another cut.
Iain – are you blaming the Tories for this as well? All vandalism is down to them?
Bruce – The Tories keep cutting police funding, which means fewer local resources to deal with problems like this. So yes, of course the government shares some of the blame.
LB
Direct government grants to police forces have fallen by 25% over the last five years. Funding fell by 18% overall because forces were able to raise more money locally
Libdems were in power for at least three of them.
Are they to blame as well or is just the evil fire-spouting Tories?
Hi Bruce – I think the Tories need to take responsibility for what they is doing today, not hide behind the skirts of the Coalition. As you know, the Lib Dems opposed the Tory cuts proposed in 2010, 2015 and 2017. Back in 2010 we were able to reduce them. In 2015 and 2017 we were not, and the outcome is clear to see.
This message translates as ‘we can no longer protect you because we don’t have the resources to’. Firstly, maybe the police could look at waste in their job and modernise their approach but, secondly, and this is probably more important, people need to be more vocal with central government who are playing with our safety by imposing such savage cuts year on year. Crime is not falling at all – it’s getting worse but just not getting dealt with
And will keep making cuts until we get rid of them!!
Alan – Direct government grants to police forces have fallen by 25% over the last five years. Funding fell by 18% overall because forces were able to raise more money locally
Libdems were in power for at least three of them – are they to blame as well?
Bruce not sure where this “police raising funds” comes from.
The police are not a fund raising body. They should be funded adequately from central government. If they’re not – as now – cuts will be made and Crime increase, it’s not rocket science,.
Alan you have not answered my question.
Iain – what is the latest on this? Have they managed to identify anyone yet?
Was there any CCTV available to identify offenders?
Very interesting and very sad to read. People ‘s reactions amaze me.
Why waste time catching them? There are no punishments. Community service and a rap on the knuckles wow!…….
Fully understand that there have been funding cuts
Some people might not recognise that Policing was so quiet in the past and it was done with less technology, a piece of wood, a whistle, a pair of handcuffs and not the best radios in the world
Are we putting up the white flag. I like many others like to think I support the Police but please stop making excuses.It feels as though we are being lectured to when all people want is to be reassured that the area is safe and if help is needed they will get an adequate response
Not many people could be a police officer. Anyone that is has my admiration and respect. It’s not the case that police aren’t bothered about things like this, but they are now so thin on the ground, constrained by PC claptrap, burdened with paperwork and driving around seeing nothing, gaining no local knowledge, that actually dealing with iow level offences such as breach of the peace, public disorder and the like is an impossibility. We need to go back to the future or accept that this is the way it will be.
Yes, the Police, the NHS, the Fire service and other vitally social services all seem to be facing savage cuts due to a lack of Govt. funding.
Yet MPs don’t seem to recognise ‘the elephant in the room’. Why not scrap HS2 and release £billions to these very worthy causes.
The sacrifice to save minutes on a train journey for the high speed enthusiasts is just ridiculous – and others will tell you that ‘capacity’ (the excuse) can be solved in other less expensive ways by re-opening closed lines.
glad he isn’t defending the police service at every turn.