Lord Stevens - Police morale is worryingly low
You may be aware that the Labour party commissioned a review of policing by Lord Stevens, (former Met Police Commissioner) Dr Tim Brain (former Chief Constable Gloucester) and Kathleen O'Toole (former Police Commissioner, Boston.) This claims to be a comprehensive review and the full report will not be produced until early in 2013.
Lord Stevens has been interviewed recently regarding his findings and has stated that he has found the morale of officers to be worryingly low. So much so that he believes this should be of serious public concern with major events such as the Jubilee and Olympics coming up.
If I was being cynical, and I am, I wonder if Lord Stevens would have reached such a conclusion or been so forthright were he still the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Labour, amongst others, are his paymasters for now and so perhaps it suits him to make an honest statement at this time. The Government will state that he is the piper and Labour are paying for the tune.
Police morale is the worst I have ever known it and it will continue to decline when cuts to pay, increased pension contributions and reduced numbers of officers come into effect. Will we ever hear a serving Chief Officer say this? The only one I ever remember speaking out was Sir Robert Mark, for which he never got his peerage.