Page 16 - WMPF Federation June-July 2021_Neat

Conference Day 1

Police minister says

service is coming out of

the pandemic in better

shape than it went in

olicing minister Kit Malthouse has
acknowledged the pressure the police
Pfound themselves under at the height
of the coronavirus crisis but insisted they
have always enjoyed the full support of the
Government and the vast majority of the
public.
Mr Malthouse said he stood ‘square-
shouldered’ with frontline officers who had
been asked to carry out their normal duties
while also policing lockdown restrictions
with great courage and professionalism.
And he told the Police Federation of
England and Wales’ annual conference that,
despite the unprecedented challenges of the
last 18 months, officers had managed to
maintain and probably improved public trust Policing minister Kit Malthouse. Shadow policing minister Sarah Jones.
during the pandemic.
He said: “Policing is coming out of the Constabulary Sir Tom Winsor. national lockdowns.
pandemic in better shape than it went in.” Mr Hewitt praised the response of police Sir Tom paid tribute to the police
The minister admitted he regretted not officers but admitted frequent changes in response during the pandemic and
doing more to ensure police officers were legislation had presented extraordinary dismissed social media criticism of how
prioritised in the Covid vaccine programme. challenges for both the police service and officers had handled the ever-changing
Asked why the Government did not place the Government. landscape during lockdown.
more pressure on the Joint Committee on He said: “Officers did their job in the He said while not perfect, the police
Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to environment they were doing it. We were performance had been ‘very, very good’ and
prioritise officers, he told a virtual panel often operating where we had different deserved high marks of nine out of 10.
discussion: “We made the case strongly regulations in different countries. Sir Tom told the panel discussion: “I
about police officers. We did repeatedly “At the beginning it was hard to would give the Government pretty high
make the case and make the request but anticipate what was happening – we worked marks for the way they have handled
obviously the JCVI made the decision that very closely with officials in the Home Office. policing.
they did. What we do have to accept is how complex “They would lose marks because the
“From my point of view, it’s a point of it was for the Government. pandemic was challenging – the changes in
regret that we didn’t manage to make our “Every force faced different situations regulations were very rapid. The last set of
point strongly enough. - the rules were the same, but every day regulations were 120 pages long.
“Having said that, as was said earlier, officers quite rightly used their discretion on “Overall, the national leadership and
quite a number of officers managed to get the ground.” political support was really good. Of course,
vaccinated with spare vaccines, hopefully Labour MP Ms Jones accused ministers there were mistakes - the drones in
now everybody is done or will be done of failing to properly support the police as Derbyshire were seized upon by papers, but
shortly.” they were forced to adapt to frequent police officers deserve high marks and the
The opening event of this year’s changes to legislation during the three Government credit.”
Federation conference, the theme of which is
Policing Under Pressure, saw a live panel Every force faced different situations - the rules
featuring Mr Malthouse, National Police “
were the same, but every day officers quite rightly
Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) chair Martin Hewitt,
shadow policing minister Sarah Jones and used their discretion on the ground.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of “

16 federation June/July 2021 www.polfed.org/westmids