'Release of people from prison will lead to more pressure on policing,' says West Midlands Chief Constable Craig Guildford

In a joint letter signed by five other police chiefs, Craig Guildford said that the Government's early release scheme, coupled with plans to punish more offenders in the community rather than in prison, will stretch police resources.

Mr Guildford said that if the Government was to deliver its stated ambitions to cut crime, there would need to be a noticeable increase in resources available for policing.

"When this government came to power they made significant commitments to the public: to bolster neighbourhood policing, halve knife crime and violence against women and girls and improve the public confidence in us," he said.

"As chief constables of big city forces and national policing leaders, we welcome this ambition."

But Mr Guildford, along with the chiefs of the Metropolitan, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire forces, as well as the chairman of the National Police Chiefs Council, said their officers were having to deal with increasing public demand, growing social volatility, and new serious and organised crime threats emboldened by the internet. They said this was happening alongside a rise in global insecurity and a heightened risk of terror, as well as growing threats from Russia, China and Iran.

"The emergency release of people from the prison system, and recommendations in the sentencing review last week to deal with more offenders in the community, will lead to more pressure on policing as we will inevitably be drawn into the control of criminals who would previously have been in prison," said Mr Guildford, ahead of next month's government spending review.

"To deliver this government’s policing ambitions and manage the increasing complexity and demand will require both substantial investments to bolster police officer numbers, grow specialist police staff nationally and enact major police reforms."

Every extra pound spent on policing would add an extra £4 to GDP, he said.

"The safer we make our villages, towns and cities the more confidence business will have to invest."

The six police chiefs said more officers would allow their forces to build on their momentum. 

"We are solving more cases, reducing crime by targeting the most dangerous and improving our service to victims," they said.

"Policing leaders also have a shared commitment to radical reform: build greater productivity and efficiency through investment in technology and artificial intelligence.

The letter said the lack of a 'deliberate design' for policing had been an enduring issue since the early 1960s, and said there had been a decade of underinvestment leaving overstretched forces 'saddled with debt, broken buildings and outdated technology'.

"A lack of investment will bake in the structural inefficiencies for another three years and will lose a once in a generation opportunity to reform the service," they said.