Reaction to ACPO’s call for Foundation Forces

20 June 2008

Responding to Ken Jones’ call for the introduction of foundation forces, Simon Reed Vice Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales said;

“For over two years now we have been calling on the government and chief officers to cut bureaucracy and allow frontline officers to exercise their discretion, restore commonsense policing and quit chasing targets instead of criminals.

“As to forces having foundation status, I do not understand what ACPO mean, as chief officers already have autonomy over how they allocate budgets and deploy resources. Targets could be abolished overnight; we don’t need a new initiative with a new name to return to traditional policing methods and allow officers to use their judgment and experience to tackle crime.

“Perhaps this is part of ACPO’s hidden agenda to remove national standards for training and equipment? A move that will be extremely detrimental to policing and one we will fiercely oppose.”

click here to download in PDF format