Exculsive Portsmouth Crime Summit at Westminster
A Crime Summit will take place in Westminster this morning to discuss the increasing pressure on police resources in Portsmouth. As Fratton CID continue to investigate yet another stabbing in the city, John Apter, chair of Hampshire Police Federation, and Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan will meet with Policing Minister Nick Hurd. The summit will discuss not only the rising tide of violent crime locally but the damage done to local business through a virulent wave of break-ins at Southsea firms that has yet to solved. Mr Apter and Mr Morgan will also raise the latest round of cuts to policing. 160 police jobs – with the majority being uniformed officers – are to be lost in £6.9million worth of cuts. A further 200 possible jobs may go by 2021. “””Lots to discuss,” the grim-faced chairman of Hampshire Police Federation said. The full list of cuts are: • Crime Reporting Bureau – 0 officers, 15 staff • Forensic Resource Management Unit – 0 officers 5 staff • Marine Unit – 2 officers 0 staff • Roads Policing Unit – 20 officers 0 staff • Roads Policing Unit Intelligence – 0 officers 2 staff • Dog Unit – 15 officers 0 staff • Force Support Unit – 27 officers 0 staff • Firearms Cadre – 4 officers 0 staff • Dedicated Source Unit – 7 officers 1 staff • Hampshire Surveillance Unit – 12 officers 1 staff • Intelligence functions – 16 officers 4 staff • Force Custody – 5.5 officers 7 staff • Evidence Management – 0 officers 10.5 staff • ID Suite Team – 0 officers 7 staff (Some of the positions are currently vacant and will not be filled.) There are also further projected cuts of £10.6 million cuts between 2019/20 and 2020/21 with more jobs to be axed.
