Startling research conducted by the Liberal Democrats has exposed a troubling trend in police vehicle reliability, with incidents of breakdowns reaching over 10,000 in 2023. The research, conducted through Freedom of Information requests to various police forces, underscores the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies in England and Wales.
The figures unveiled by the research indicate that police vehicles broke down on average 29 times a day in 2023. The Metropolitan Police, the largest police force in the country, bore the brunt of these breakdowns, reporting a staggering 16,091 incidents since 2019. Suffolk followed with 9,875 breakdowns, while Norfolk recorded 8,780 incidents. These statistics point to significant concerns regarding the reliability of police vehicles throughout the nation.
In addition to the frequency of breakdowns, the data also drew attention to the age of police vehicles. Responses from 33 police forces revealed that nearly 40% of the vehicles were 5 years old or older, with 7% being more than a decade old. These figures raise questions about the efficiency and safety of ageing police vehicle fleets.
Several police forces reported a higher proportion of older vehicles in their fleets. Leicestershire and Norfolk both disclosed that 24% of their vehicles were over 10 years old, while Hampshire & the Isle of Wight reported 14% in this category. The oldest police vehicle on record, a relic of 25 years, belonged to Cheshire Police, with a dozen other forces also operating vehicles that had surpassed the two-decade mark.
The Liberal Democrats promptly assigned blame to the Conservative Government for what they consider appalling statistics. The party contends that years of inadequate resourcing have left local police forces ill-equipped to fulfil their primary duty of preventing and addressing criminal activities.
Alistair Carmichael MP, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, expressed deep concerns over the findings, stating, “Local police are being left without the tools they need to keep us safe. How can officers be expected to combat crime if they don’t even have working vehicles? This is just another consequence of frontline policing being side-lined by this Conservative Government.”
In response to these revelations, the Liberal Democrats are calling for a revival of robust community policing. They stress the importance of allocating necessary resources to local forces to effectively combat neighbourhood crime. Carmichael urged the Home Secretary to prioritize the restoration of effective community policing, emphasizing the essential role of adequately equipping officers to carry out their responsibilities.
