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'Irresponsible': Home Office slams Police chief''s critisism of budget cuts
25 Feb 2011A top police officer has been branded "irresponsible" after he questioned the coalition Government's budget cuts.
Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) claimed the axe failing on services could lead to vulnerable people being put at risk.
And he went on to say bureaucrats and politicians do not understand the pressures his officers were under, adding: "Whitehall doesn't get it."
His comments, made while speaking at a conference on sexual violence in Manchester, provoked a strong response from the Home Office.
"We do not expect forces to stop providing essential policing services and it's utterly irresponsible to use language like this," a spokesman for the ministry said.
"The Government has been clear that the police must play their part in tackling the deficit, but that savings can and must be made while protecting the front line."
Mr Fahy was making the point that cuts were affecting the ability of police to work with other agencies to help tackle crime and spot potential signs of tragedies before they happened.
He referred to the tragic death of four-year-old Chloe Burke whose body was found next to her mother Dawn Makin, 33, last week at their home in Bury. Ms Makin is understood to have drunk toxic fluid and slashed her own wrists and remains critically ill in hospital.Post-mortem results confirmed Chloe died from stab wounds.
With voluntary services and local authorities also facing cuts, Mr Fahy voiced concern it would make it harder for his officers to help vulnerable people.
He said: "It seems that sometimes parents are under great stress, suffering severe mental health issues - and young people are very vulnerable.
"The world is not getting any simpler. There will always be vulnerable people and criminals - the worrying aspect is not only are we making reductions, but charities and voluntary organisations are also at severe risk."
Mr Fahy made the point that in tackling repeat offenders and problem families there needed to be input from not only police, but social services, the Youth Offending Team and other agencies. But if one of these are having budget cuts, it made it difficult to have "joined up" thinking in tackling problems and placed more pressure on the other agencies.
He added: "A lot of the people we deal with feature elsewhere earlier on. The issue of budget pressures is going to be a severe challenge.
"If in the middle of the night we need a social worker, if that person is not available, that is going to cause a further increase in our workload. It's not just about how we are using our own staff, it's about how your workload may increase because other organisations and voluntary services are also losing staff.
"Our challenge is - Whitehall doesn't get it. They don't understand the realities of working on the ground. It's not just about trying to find efficiencies.
"There are some politicians who will tell you we can get through this by introducing cheaper police cars and outsourcing but I don't see that."
GMP needs to save £134 million, a quarter of its budget, by 2015, with 3,000 posts likely to go including up to 1,400 officers, over the next four years.
Reader views (10)
So anyone who dares to disagree with the Tories, are 'Irresponsible'
I agree with Mike in London, who says quote; especially as they LOST the election and have no mandate for what they are doing.
- Fredrick, London, 27/02/2011 11:06
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Well said Lydia! There are far too many ignorant fools around who regard all public servants as "bureaucrats" and "pen pushers" without having any idea whatsoever as to what they actually do, and achieve. I wish more people like Peter Fahy would speak out and show the real effects of the cuts (not savings or 'efficiencies') ordered by Cameron and co actually mean, especially as they LOST the election and have no mandate for what they are doing.
- Mike, London UK, 26/02/2011 19:55
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Frogeye, it is Peter Fahy's duty to speak out about about what he sees as problems that will effect the public because this is in the public's best interest. The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police should have a good idea of how cuts will effect his police force. The coalition government should be willing to take into account what relevant professionals say even if they don't always agree with them.
- Lydia, London, 26/02/2011 12:26
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Peter Fahy needs to be reminded that he is a PUBLIC SERVANT, and therefore a "bureaucrat" himself. As such, it is his duty to give advice to his duly elected political masters, and then to accept and carry out their decisions. He most certainly is NOT his duty or responsibility to go public with his private views, thereby undercutting his employers' authority and responsibility.
If Mr. Fahy is not content with this role, he can always resign and find a more satisfying occupation, perhaps as a binman!
- Frogeye, East Anglia, 26/02/2011 02:07
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Oh come on people. . . . I think a senior police officer has a better grasp of the situation regarding policing than some twit civilian elected to Parliament or some civil servant sitting on his fat behind in Whitehall. For these pedantic fools to criticise Mr Fahy is clearly laughable. These very same muppets - Cameron & Co - also fail to heed the warnings by senior serving and ex serving military officers re the defensive capability of UK forces. Again, I would think these are the very people who have a little bit of knowledge regarding such matters, not the prat in Whitehall or the twit in Parliament claiming to be an omniscient Government Minister. Cameron and his government of so called Tory / Liberals are no better, and indeed quite possibly worse and more moronic than their predecessors from Labour.
- Eoin McGreeghan, Derry, NI, 25/02/2011 21:42
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Everything seems extreme to someone who has no belief system other than that which the Government of the day trots out.
A fundamentalist is just a person who believes something more deeply than you do.
BTW Deptford man - you seem to have fallen for the Evo myth eh?
Suggest some research may exercise the grey matter.
Anyhoo, the more godless a society the more crime you have - try arguing that one away. Sorry, you don't 'do' argument............
- Chris, Bridgend, 25/02/2011 13:36
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Hmmm, I'm an atheist but I don't go around raping and pillaging. I'm happy with people having a religious belief if that's what they choose. Religious people tend to be intollerant of people not in their faith. Any proof of evolution? Yes. Any proof of a god? No.
"Get right with God and commit no crime."
Of course no religious person has ever committed a crime.
- Paul, IoD, London, 25/02/2011 13:31
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"Adult Fairy tale of evolution"-classic
best laugh I`ve had in a while. That statistic about never being more than a few meters from a rat in London seems to hold true to religious nutters on the Internet too! I don't agree with the way Whitehall runs the country either but that no reason to switch your brain off and find religion. Especially extremist religion like your spouting.
- James, Deptford, 25/02/2011 11:01
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The whinging coming out of Manchester is never ending.
- bingham macnamara, lymington, UK, 25/02/2011 10:29
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The issue is not how many police we need on the streets. A civilised country should need NO policemen on the streets.
However, as we live in a secular, heathen, atheistic, materialistic, celebrity, Evolution, anything goes society, of course things are going from bad to worse.
No conscience? No fear of punishment? No fear of accountability on a Judgement Day? Yep that's the reason.
Answer? Get right with God and commit no crime. That's the real answer, but a Politically Correct (oxymoron) society with a Government that destroys the 'myth' of a Creator God, whilst perpetuating the Adult Fairy Tale of Evolution will only exacerbate the problem.
Babylon rules in the UK - sad but true.
- Chris, Bridgend, 25/02/2011 10:28
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