Staffordshire police chief slams Home Secretary as tension grow further

Chief Constable Gareth Morgan said police needed more funding and resources to allow them to do their jobs in a further sign of growing tensions between police chiefs and the Government.

Mr Morgan, who has become an outspoken critic of the Government over funding in recent weeks, blasted the Home Secretary after he was reported as saying forces had to use their resources more wisely.

The fed-up top officer posted a link to the article on Twitter and said: “Happy to go on record agreeing that chiefs and policing can be more effective. We also need to maximise efficiency. However we also need to be resourced and funded to meet the demands placed on us. And we’re not.”

Simmering tensions over police funding have threatened to boil over in the last few weeks with senior officers at both the West Midlands and Staffordshire forces laying out drastic warnings about the impact of budget cuts.

It also comes after Mr Morgan apologised to officers and their families when he was forced to cancel rest days to ensure football matches in the county could be adequately policed. His West Midlands Police counterpart Dave Thompson said recently criminals were being given the upper hand by the police’s struggles.

The Home Secretary was reported as saying it was up to police forces to use their resources more effectively in times of dwindling funding.

At a meeting of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Mr Javid conceded forces were being ‘stretched’. But although he pledged to ensure policing would be a top priority in the Government’s forthcoming spending review, he insisted more money was not the only way to tackle rising crime.

Cannock Chase deputy leader Gordon Alcott said Bromsgorve MP Mr Javid needed to enter the ‘real world’.

He said: “I fully agree with the Chief Constable. At the bare minimum they need to be able to provide a full service. We can see from the amount of burglaries and attacks on people’s liberties. When people ring the police the assistance isn’t there and it’s not because they don’t want to it’s because they haven’t got the resources to do it.

“He wants to go out with the Chief Constable and the bobbies into the real world and see what they are having to deal with and not make silly comments.”

His inflammatory comments come after Prime Minister Theresa May recently promised austerity is over while Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged to increase public spending in this week’s Budget.