Diane Abbott, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, commenting on the HMIC’s PEEL: Police effectiveness 2016 report, said:
“The report shows that the police are doing their best despite this Tory Government’s actions.
“Her Majesty’s Inspectorate says that some forces are struggling to respond to shrinking resources. Some are artificially downgrading the severity of calls, others are not able to properly carry out their core functions of crime prevention, public security and apprehending criminals. Some are setting quotas for specialist police or failing to register organised gangs in their area, because that would require further action.
“We should be clear, the primary responsibility for this is not individual forces or officers. The fault lies with the Tory government who have cut 20,000 police officers and who are now cutting police budgets across the country.”
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