More police needed to tackle New Year’s Eve revellers

21 January 2019

Violent and aggressive drunks were left on the streets of the West Midlands on New Year’s Eve as there were not enough officers to arrest them all – Federation chair Rich Cooke has stated.

Rich raised his concerns in a series of Tweets posted on his Twitter account.

They read: “Just got home after the NYE night shift.

“Reflection - the absolute number of violent/aggressive drunken idiots who 10, 15 years ago feet wouldn’t have touched ground on way to custody - now simply tolerated.

“Reason – we simply hadn’t got the officers to do anything else. Arrests inevitably take officers away for hours these days & we can’t afford to lose them.

“The line of what constitutes acceptable behaviour is pushed further & further to make ends meet.”
He went on to say: “Problem with central custody is they are inevitably further away from the majority of officers.

“We are wasting time travelling to & from, booking in which used to take 20 mins max can be much longer & arresting officers instead of dealing with simple stuff now hand it over.

“To give you an eg a major town like Walsall now has no dedicated facility. Prisoners have to be taken to Oldbury or Wolves.

“In traffic it’s a nightmare for officers.

“Overall the efficiency of policing is harmed & it affects decision making where it should never be a consideration!”