Policing Minister Sarah Jones will today be warned of the consequences of next month's planned early release of thousands of convicts. Nick Smart, President of the Police Superintendent's Association, will tell Ms Jones that Labour's early release scheme is the “most upsetting and lowest form of insult to every victim affected”.
Warning over community confidence and justice system
Mr Smart will warn Ms Jones of the devastating impact the controversial programme to end over-crowding is having on both community confidence and the entire justice system. He will demand the government launch its first Royal Commission in 60 years to address the crisis, telling Ms Jones at the annual conference of the Association that successive governments have reneged on a commitment first made by the Conservatives in 2019.
The senior officer says police will struggle to respond to crimes such as burglary because of the increased workload caused by the early release of thousands of hardened criminals at the beginning of next month, in an effort to free up space.
Fresh crime wave predicted
Police are predicting a fresh crime wave as a result and are braced for a surge in demand as they try to manage offenders in the community. Mr Smart said: "When these people come out, there's going to be an increase in crime and there's going to be an increase in people who breach their licence conditions and who will need to be arrested."
He believes the fallout from the early release scheme will damage trust and confidence in an already "completely broken" criminal justice system but fears the public will blame the police. He said: "It boils down to the fact the courts have got an 80,000 case backlog, the CPS don't have enough lawyers and capacity, the probation service is overwhelmed, the prisons are bursting at the seams and who gets blamed?
"The police, because we are the ones that are out and about doing stuff, or not doing stuff. We are the visible face of the criminal justice system. So, when you phone up you want the police to turn up immediately and rightly so, you pay taxes, and that's what we should be doing."
Call for wider reform
Mr Smart will tell the Minister the government must widen police reform efforts to include all criminal justice partners – instead of leaving forces exposed. He will say: "We do not police in isolation - and silo reform will not fix the systemic issues faced by all agencies within the criminal justice system.
"UK policing is delivered by brilliant people who are committed to serving the public, but so often they are let down by the complex and underfunded criminal justice system around them. To get reform right, it is critically important to look at how every part of our service is set up, and where it overlaps with others, so that we can identify the huge potential to do things better."
