Shadow minister for policing Sarah Jones (pictured) says there is “a huge job to be done” to work with police staff and officers to fix the problems within the service.
Since coming into post in 2020, Ms Jones has spent time visiting police forces across the country, listening to staff, PCSOs and officers – many of whom are UNISON members – on the challenges they’re facing. The most pressing issues she says, relate to the workforce, pay and budget restraints.
“This government has cut 20,000 officers and then put in 20,000 officers in a clunky, unplanned and un-strategic way. We need a proper workforce plan that considers the right mix of police staff, police officers and PCSOs in order to achieve what we need, and so that the public have confidence that, when a crime is committed, someone can do something about it.”
Echoing her speech delivered to police and justice conference, Ms Jones said the focus most be on people working within the force.
Pay and people
She is starkly aware of how pay is a huge problem within policing. She said: “People are paid less in real terms than they were, and we know that’s only being exacerbated by the cost of living crisis. Police going to food banks is not an uncommon occurrence, or people leaving policing to go to other jobs.
“I recently heard from a police officer who’s now going to become a train driver because it’s a less stressful job and more money. We need to be able to retain our really good police officers and staff so they don’t burn out and go and do something else instead.”
Ms Jones gave an example in Lancashire, where 54 crime recording staff are being replaced by officers: “Forces have to recruit the officers, but the staff are the only place they can make cuts, so we see officers doing the job of police staff”.
She also noted that, where other public services have been cut, the police have become the “public service of last resort”, particularly when it comes to public health-related issues.
“The police have to spend a lot of their time dealing with non-crime related things, and people who are not getting the services they need from other places – particularly those in mental health crises. It’s the police who end up being called, whatever the situation may be.
“In Wales, they’re spending hours supporting the ambulance service. They answer calls from people who are suicidal, who should be getting support elsewhere. The police stay with those people because they can’t leave them. They are also dealing with people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol, who are not getting the support they need because those services have been cut.
“They’re having to deal with both addiction – and the crimes that may be committed because of those addictions – due to other services being cut.”
Ms Jones recounted that in South Wales, only 15% of 999 calls are crime-related – most were about people who were vulnerable, had mental health issues, and people who have gone missing.
Challenging misogyny and sexism
At this year’s police and justice conference, UNISON members unanimously passed a motion to challenge sexism and misogyny in policing.
In Ms Jones’s view, the solution to institutional misogyny within policing comes through strong leadership and management. “The first part of the solution is to speak about the problem. We’ve identified this is a cultural problem within policing that needs to be tackled, and it’s not just through vetting and misconduct and recruitment, all of which are important.
“It’s more about having the leaders and managers in place throughout policing to make sure the right cultures are encouraged.”
“A lot of cuts we’ve had over the last ten years have meant that when new recruits come in, they aren’t getting the leadership they need, there’s poor management and things are overlooked and not dealt with. We’re now speaking the name of the problem, but finding the solution is about structures, misconduct processes and cultural change through good management and leadership.”
Rape and sexual offences
One of the top priorities for Ms Jones is the lack of justice for rape survivors. The latest figures show that only 1.2% of reported rapes lead to a suspect being charged. For the minority of victims whose cases go to trial, the average wait is three years.
“The delays are having a massive impact on victims, a number of victims are dropping out of the system because they can’t bear the whole process. So we’ve said that we will fast track rape cases through the courts.”
This isn’t the first time Ms Jones has spoken about the need to provide greater support to rape victims in the criminal justice process. Last year, she successfully challenged government plans to force rape survivors to hand over their phones to police as part of investigations.
Outlining Labour’s priorities for tackling the epidemic of violence against women and girls, she said: “We will provide advocates and advice for rape victims from the point they first come to the police station so they have some guidance, and are supported through the process.
“We want to see rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) units in every police station, and we’ve costed and funded that so we can make sure people are supported.”
Mental health
Ms Jones is also concerned about mental health support for those working within the police service.
Last week, figures revealed that a total of 371,988 Metropolitan Police working days were lost due to mental health over a four-year period. Days off taken by police officers for issues such as stress, anxiety, depression or PTSD increased by more than 10,000 in the same period – a 15% jump.
“Labour is calling for a national standard of mental health support for police staff. There are some areas where it’s great, and some areas where it’s less good.
“Whilst we want to maintain the independence of the 43 police forces, we also want to say: ‘This is how people should be treated, and this is the support people expect to get’.”
Labour’s plan for policing
With the political turmoil caused by the mini-budget and the news of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s resignation, Ms Jones is conscious of how much uncertainty the country faces. She declares that it’s Labour’s top priority to “bring stability” to the UK “after 12 years of an economy with low-pay, low growth and that has seen public services decimated.
“If there is an election now and Labour comes into power, we would inherit a significantly worse situation than the last time we were in government. We’ve got to be realistic about what we can do and how fast we can do it, which is why every commitment Labour has made has been costed, and we’ve set out exactly how we’re going to fund it.”
She says Labour’s commitment to place 13,000 additional PCSOs within our neighbourhoods will be funded by £350m in savings from procurement.
Ms Jones believes the route to a strong police service is through focusing on the people working in policing. She said: “It’s about looking at the workforce and saying ‘how do we make this workforce fit for the future?”
Ultimately, whatever plans Ms Jones has for policing, they’ll be developed closely with UNISON.
“If we didn’t have UNISON talking to us about police staff, we would have much poorer policy offers. It’s thanks to our relationship with UNISON that we get so much great information about what’s happening. This means we have a much better proposition to take to the country.”
The article Shadow police minister: ‘We need a proper workforce plan for policing’ first appeared on the UNISON National site.