During one of many debates I had on the importance of police numbers, I was asked if I wanted to live in a society that has a police officer on every street corner, or one that didn’t need the police on every street corner. If asked the same, I assume most of us would reply the latter, and in a perfect world it would be my response too. But as we don’t live in that perfect world my answer was more nuanced: in order to get to the latter, we needed to go some way towards the former; and that answer was as correct then as would be today.

One of the most infuriating things about the politics of police numbers is that policing is the only aspect of the public sector that gets “punished” for being seen to be successful. Ever-improving health outcomes and increasing life expectancy don’t lead to calls to cut the numbers of doctors, nurses and health workers. We don’t see a clamour to reduce teacher numbers as more pupils excel in their exams and go on to university. But when crime falls (and I’ll get back to that) the importance of policing’s contribution to that is dismissed as the axe begins to fall.

There is no doubt in my mind the dreadful scenes in Southport, Southend, London, Hartlepool, and many other towns and cities can in substantial part be attributed to the virtual collapse of community policing across England and Wales. Police numbers across England and Wales fell by over 21,000 in the decade after the Conservative / Liberal coalition government, and the police adopted a wholly reactive policing style that did nothing but help sow seeds for discontent across countless communities.

The double whammy of austerity and crime hit millions hard. People began to see boorishness, gang violence, and knife crime increase. Mobs of shoplifting gangs grew bolder and increasingly mobile moped thieves saw street robberies become like a sport. A physical decline in neighbourhoods and increasingly tired and dirty-looking towns and inner cities added to the sense of neglect. Austerity hollowed out more than our public services; it hollowed out communities too. Little wonder people felt they were being abandoned.

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The political response was one of ambivalence. Eyes were directed elsewhere as the Brexit circus, prime ministerial revolving door, small boats, and an increasingly unstable world provided ample distraction to these daily realities for so many. Social media became awash with endless images of gangs fighting with machetes in the streets, of shops being plundered, and of graffiti and vandalism whenever a cause or campaign motivated people to march.

The police response was as predictable as it was pitiful. The usual commentary of “disgraceful scenes … no place in society … blah blah” all concentrated on the symptoms, and never the causes. The police leadership system is designed to deliver uncritical, timid but loyal clones who major in selling snake oil messages that technology means fewer police officers and stations don’t really matter. Knighthoods, Damehoods, and other gongs which have so much value for life after the police, don’t tend to fall into the laps of those prepared to be critical voices whilst in it.

By the time Boris Johnson realised the policing ship in England and Wales was on the rocks, the damage had already been done. A whole generation of police officers now have no real experience of community-based policing, and those that do live under a near-constant cloud of fear that the tiniest infarction will see them publicly flayed in the clamour for unachievable levels of perfection. When I began my policing career, community and response police officers were amongst the most experienced in the constabulary, today they are amongst the most junior and vulnerable. People who barely know the job are left to mentor those who don’t know it at all.

Everyone believes what their eyes tell them. People see crime, neglect, and decline every day. They have long given up phoning the police for they know the police won’t come. The police don’t care about them and they don’t care about the police.

Keir Starmer this week vowed to ramp up criminal justice Keir Starmer this week vowed to ramp up criminal justice (Image: PA)

Keir Starmer was quick to announce a new National Violent Disorder Programme in response to the recent rioting. To be frank it looks like new wine in old bottes as it sounds like much of what policing has been doing for decades. He was quick to say he “would not permit a breakdown of law and order on our streets" which will come as news to those who witnessed that breakdown happening long ago, but will likely never see a prime ministerial statement in response.

He was right that a tiny, mindless minority had orchestrated the riots, but the fact they found so many willing participants is something that should lead to deep soul searching. Bogeymen are easy to find and point at. Those who need no excuse to stoke division are increasingly skilled at doing so. People are hurting and that toxic cocktail of frustration and anger has been building for some time. Failing to understand its deep-rooted causes will lead to failures in responding to it.

Starmer reminded us the first duty of government is the safety of citizens, but policing by force alone, which is what he seemed to suggest, cannot deliver this. The police have to live and breathe the concerns of their communities as building confidence and helping develop an ingrained sense of safety, worth, and hope is the only way.

Policing needs to be honest that its continued assurances over the effectiveness of its responses to austerity have failed, and that as important as technology is, its not as important as actually being where people can see you and talk to you. Starmer has the luxury of being fresh in the door and having many ready scapegoats – but if he believes those who tell him facial recognition and a big stick will bring harmony to our streets, his honeymoon period will be very short indeed.

Calum Steele is a former General Secretary of The Scottish Police Federation