Police: Police Officers and Health Provision

police: But in an interview to mark his retirement, Boutcher said Twenty thousand more police officers is essential, but to allow those police officers to do the job the public want, don't distract us by us having to repair and look after those that are not adequately supported because of the lack of investment in their public services, particularly mental health provision, according to The Guardian. We need to repair the social fabric. In a damning indictment of the effects of years of austerity on crime, Jon Boutcher, the chief constable of Bedfordshire, called for police to be freed up to focus on hardcore criminals and not victims of social circumstance . In an interview with the Guardian, the former national police lead for race said that no number of extra police officers would make the streets safer if the heavy impact of the cuts continued to weigh on officers across the UK. Last week Boris Johnson took office as prime minister and announced plans to hire 20,000officers, in effect reversing cuts made to frontline law enforcement since 2010, when the Tories came to power. He said the conveyor belt of the criminal justice system was not working and significant numbers of offenders could be diverted from crime with a bigger investment in social services, education and mental health. The first responsibility of government is to protect its citizens. Picking up demand from the crumbling mental health system was a big issue for policing, he said, and from the education sector, with schools excluding children who end up on the streets. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.