South Wales Police Federation chair Phil Walker has hit back at claims that police officers are hiding behind desks and avoiding the confrontational side of policing, describing the criticism as a fundamental misunderstanding of modern policing.
His comments come after a national newspaper claimed that two in five police officers failed to make a single arrest last year, using the figures to question whether too many officers have moved away from frontline policing.
Phil said he was particularly angered by comments from former Metropolitan Police Detective Peter Bleksley, who suggested officers had become desk-bound and were seeking the comfort of office-based roles rather than making arrests.
“Peter Bleksley has been out of policing for a long time,” said Phil, adding: “He is a long-retired former Met detective, but he seems to think he speaks for policing today.
Former Metropolitan Police Detective Peter Bleksley
“He doesn’t.
“This argument must be challenged for what it is. You cannot take the policing of decades ago and simply impose it on the policing we have today.”
Phil said officers had not suddenly become reluctant to arrest people.
“Police officers do as they are told, when they are told. That hasn’t changed. Policing has always been that way, and will always be that way – it’s the nature of the job,” he continued.
Arrest
“If an officer is deployed to deal with an incident and the circumstances mean that an arrest is necessary and lawful, they will make that arrest. The idea that thousands of officers are somehow hiding from confrontation or deliberately avoiding doing their jobs is simply not the reality.”
He said the wider political and policy environment in which officers now operate also needed to be recognised.
He added: “Policing doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Government policy, legislation, operational policy and politics all influence the way officers police.
“And officers are accountable for their decisions in a way that they perhaps weren’t to the same extent in the past.
“There is scrutiny. There is oversight. There are complaints. There are misconduct processes. There are investigations into decisions officers make.
“That matters when you’re talking about the type of policing that some commentators seem to want.”
Phil said the suggestion that officers should simply be getting out onto the streets and ‘nick[ing] people by the van load’ ignored the reality of modern policing and the consequences officers can face when things go wrong.
“We live in a complaint culture and, whether people like it or not, a culture of scrutiny,” Phil said.
Complaints
“Officers are being hung out to dry. They can find themselves subject to complaints, investigations and disciplinary proceedings for decisions they have made in incredibly difficult and fast-moving circumstances.
“So when somebody sits outside policing – which, by the way, Peter Bleksley is now – and says, ‘just get out there and arrest people’, they need to understand what they are actually asking officers to do – and what can happen to those officers afterwards.”
Phil said this was not an argument against proactive policing or arresting offenders.
“Of course we want criminals arrested. Of course we want people brought before the courts. Of course we want visible, proactive policing,” he said, adding: “But arresting somebody is one part of policing. It isn’t the definition of policing.
“Officers investigate crimes. They protect victims. They safeguard vulnerable people. They deal with missing people. They gather evidence. They prepare cases for court. They manage offenders. They work with partner agencies. They deal with increasingly complex crimes.
“All of that is policing.”
That point is also reflected in the national response from the Police Federation, which has argued that officers working behind a desk investigating crime, supporting colleagues and safeguarding victims are every bit as essential as officers making arrests on the street.
Phil believes a headline-friendly statistic has distorted the debate.
Clickbait
“This is a clickbait article,” he said.
“They’ve taken one number – the number of arrests made by individual officers – and then try to build an entire narrative about modern policing around it.
“That doesn’t tell you whether an officer is working hard. It doesn’t tell you whether they are keeping people safe. It doesn’t tell you whether they are solving crimes. And it certainly doesn’t tell you whether they are hiding.”
The newspaper’s own article acknowledges that arrest numbers are not necessarily a measure of productivity, with policing insiders pointing to specialist roles including cybercrime, safeguarding and intelligence.
Phil said the officers he represents deserve more credit: “Police officers are still going out every day and doing an incredibly difficult job.
“They are making decisions that can have consequences for people’s lives, including their own.
“They are dealing with violence, vulnerable victims, people in crisis and offenders who can be unpredictable and dangerous.
Accountability
“And they are doing that while knowing that their actions will be scrutinised afterwards.
“Don’t confuse caution, professionalism and accountability with officers being afraid to do their jobs.”
Phil’s message to commentators who believe policing should simply return to the way it was decades ago is straightforward.
“Come and spend some time with us,” he said, adding: “Come and see what officers actually deal with. Come and sit in a control room. Come and see what happens on response. Come and see what investigators deal with. Come and see the safeguarding work.
“Then tell me that these officers are hiding.
“Policing has changed because society has changed, crime has changed, and the expectations placed upon police officers have changed.
“The officers haven’t stopped doing their jobs.
“What has changed is the environment in which they have to do them.”
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