Lots of press about Police numbers being cut.

Life is never that simple. Police officers are warranted and you can’t hire and fire them. Effectively they’re protected and a recruitment  freeze would take place and other costs would be slashed. This is likely to hit Police Community Support Officers – they could be wiped out as they can be hired & fired.

Fundamentally the problem is how complicated it is for Police officers to make an arrest. On a good day it will involve five hours from start to finish. In other countries the system is designed to trust police officers and takes around 30 minutes.

With Police budgets cut and probably overtime bans and it taking five hours to process someone who has been arrested they’ll be even more reticence to arrest people once you’re part way into your shift.

The key is to unlock this vast inefficiency caused by a ridiculous arrest system designed by lawyers. Flip side would be making the Police much more effective by simplifying arrest processes which could see them arrest more people, record more crime, deter more crime. We’ve all seen Police cars drive past some misdemeanour and in amazement wondered why they didn’t intervene. The arrest process makes it clear why this happens.

What are your experiences?