UK policing '˜in crisis' says federation chief

John Apter, who represents rank and file officers across England and Wales, said the public was being failed.

Mr Apter, who took over the role of chairman of the police federation after a long stint as Hampshire Police Federation's chief, blamed swingeing government cuts for the situation.

Speaking to The Independent, he said some forces were '˜in crisis' and that the public would '˜suffer' more in the future as a result of limited resources.

He claimed: '˜We can't do everything - there are going to be situations where we simply can't deliver the policing we want to deliver.

'˜In those cases we are failing the public but that's not the fault of police officers on the ground, and in some cases it's not the chief constable's fault.

'˜You can only slice the financial cake so many ways and you have to prioritise.

'˜The public are already suffering and they are going to suffer more and more.'

It comes as the crime rates soared in the UK, with police recording 5.5 million crimes in the year to March 2017.

That's 11 percent higher than the figure for the previous year.

The figure included a 16 per cent rise in recorded knife crimes and a 30 per cent increase in robberies.

Home secretary Sajid Javid promised to prioritise police funding during next year's spending review.