Response to Tackling Anti-social Behaviour from the Police Federation
Thursday, 08 May, 2008
Responding to the announcement by the Home Secretary today about tackling anti-social behaviour, Jan Berry, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says:
"There's nothing new in the Home Secretary's announcement today. Police officers were targeting and disrupting those who cause anti-social behaviour for years until the presence and value of the bobby on the beat was no longer recognised. Frontline policing must be carried out by fully attested officers, and not by CSOs who, despite their best efforts, are not respected by the yob element.
"The Home Secretary is right that we should all follow the example set by Essex Police. But what Jacqui Smith must acknowledge is that the Chief Constable in Essex has been employing traditional policing methods, returning in excess of 200 police officers to the frontline rather than CSOs and pledging to recruit a further 600 police officers in the next two years. That is what has made the real difference and let's hope the government and other chief officers finally sit up and take notice, as we cannot afford the luxury of increasing CSO numbers at the expense of reducing police officer numbers."
