The Police Ombudsman has told a meeting of police Superintendents that he is aware the current cuts in public funding will have a knock on effect on the problems police have to deal with.
Dr Michael Maguire also told those present that cuts to police funding and therefore to the service police can provide, may well lead to an increase in complaints from the public that officers are failing in their duty.
Dr Maguire was speaking to the joint Annual Conference of the Associations of police Superintendents for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Police Ombudsman said that both his organisation and the PSNI are independent of each other and he had no problem if the relationship between them could be described as having a ‘healthy tension.’
However, the Police Ombudsman said that the bodies shared common goals in that they both wanted to help improve policing and wanted to see a reduction in complaints and a reduction in the cause of complaints.
Dr Maguire said the cuts to public services were also a common problem:
“It is important that the police know that I as Police Ombudsman appreciate the problems they will face. The current ‘austerity’ programme has meant cuts across the public sector. I am very aware that police officers are the professionals who will be on the streets at four in the morning, picking up the pieces from problems which normally rest elsewhere in the system.
For too long the police have been the ‘catcher’s mitt’ for failures elsewhere in society and for difficulties in the public sector, such as failures in mental health provision or in the social and education fields.”
Dr. Maguire said the problem was compounded by the fact that police budget had been reduced and so too had their capacity to deal with these problems:
“Make no mistake. As the police service contracts, there is a fair possibility this may lead to an increase in complaints to my office that officers have failed in their duty to respond to specific incidents.
“My position is clear: we will look at each complaint independently, but I will not criticise an individual officer for their failure to provide a service which it is no longer police policy or practice to provide.
Dr Maguire said the PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton had been clear and unequivocal that if there was to be a change to police funding this would mean a change to the service police could provide:
“I think there is more work to be done. As time moves on, the public will need to be told what they can and cannot reasonably expect from police. This is an area which the police and the Police Ombudsman Office could both tackle,” he said.