'˜We still don't have enough officers' '“ Hampshire police representative reacts to watchdog report

A SENIOR police representative has said officers must not be '˜complacent' after a watchdog gave a '˜good' rating in an inspection.

By The Newsroom

Published 23rd Mar 2018, 05:00 GMT

Hampshire police was given the rating by HMICFRS in its annual effectiveness report.

But John Apter, Hampshire Police Federation chairman, said there are still not enough police officers.

He said: ‘Whilst today’s report from HMICFRS is positive, we mustn’t be complacent. We don’t have enough officers to meet demand, colleagues are struggling to cope and on occasions we simply run out of officers to deploy to jobs. That’s the reality.’

As reported yesterday, the watchdog’s report found the force had improved its arrest rate for domestic abuse.

The rate increased from 25 arrests per 100 domestic abuse-related crimes (in the 12 months to June 2016) to 31 arrests over the same period in 2017.

HMICFRS said the force now had 49 in 100 in the six months to September 30 last year.