Police at the centre of the storm amid prison overcrowding crisis, senior officials said

Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) President Nick Smart told the association’s annual conference that prisoners were being released without adequate release plans and that police were facing the consequences.

In his keynote speech on Tuesday, he said: “My colleagues are once again being placed at the centre of a storm for which they have no control. They are having to arrest offenders who can then stay out of prison and deal with the consequences of today’s early release of thousands of criminals, many of them potentially without adequate rehabilitation and release plans.

“Will the public understand the situation that police officers and the service are putting themselves in, or will we once again be seen as a service that is doing something wrong?”

Delegates also heard that the service had been underfunded for years and that recent unrest had shown that police officers had to be diverted from other duties to deal with the unrest.

“There are not enough police officers to meet the demands we face. There has been chronic underinvestment in policing for years, and that must change. Our service has been drowning financially for more than a decade,” Smart said.

He told the conference that almost 40 percent of police officers in England and Wales currently have less than five years’ experience, while the proportion of those with more than 25 years’ service has fallen by 38 percent since 2016.

In addition, 44% of superintendents may retire in the next six years without any financial incentive to stay in their jobs.

Delegates learned that the number of police officers in England and Wales has increased by an average of six per year since 2010.

Mr Smart gave a sobering assessment of the criminal justice system and appealed to the Government, saying: “Now is the time to take a stand and show us that things are going to be different, that we are no longer going to suffer underinvestment year after year, that our calls for change are not going to be ignored and that we are finally going to feel valued and respected.”

“Nobody knows policing better than your people. Let us help you get it right. Let us start over with a blank canvas for policing, listening to the key stakeholders who know policing – your people, the people who experience it every day.”

He described the criminal justice system as broken, adding: “We are doing what we can, and ‘all we can’ is not enough because we have very few resources.”

“Victims are being let down in the most damaging ways and this must change.

“The frustration of colleagues of all ranks and departments at not being able to provide victims with the help they deserve is palpable.”

A recorded video message from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was played, thanking officers for their work and apologising for their absence, after the conference heard that the PSA was “disappointed” by their absence.

Instead, delegates listened to a speech by Police Minister Dame Diana Johnson, who outlined how the government is implementing plans to strengthen neighbourhood policing.

“I can announce today that the Government has approved initial funding to support the College of Policing in launching a new specialist training programme for neighbourhood policing officers,” she said, adding that the focus of this measure “will focus on anti-social behaviour, civic engagement and problem-solving, equipping neighbourhood policing officers with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to build local relationships and tackle the issues that most harm communities”.

She jokingly asked delegates to be more lenient with her during her first speech at the conference and when answering questions, adding: “But having spent much of my time before the election as chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee asking uncomfortable questions, including of ministers and police chiefs, I think I must now get used to having the roles reversed and having to answer these difficult questions.”