Commenting on today’s announcement that West Midlands Police will receive £1.8 million from the government to pay for additional enforcement of COVID 19 rules, the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, Waheed Saleem said:
“Whilst I am pleased the government has listened to calls from myself and others to assist police forces cover the cost of COVID-19, this funding will only go a short way in helping us to recover the approximately £10m we have already spent on equipment, resourcing and have lost in revenue due to the virus.
“This £1.8m is of course, welcome, but will just supplement additional overtime pay for officers already under a great deal of pressure.
“I remain concerned that without the government properly refunding police forces, areas like the West Midlands which has already suffered greatly from government austerity since 2010 may be forced to make more cuts to services. This would not be in the public interest at a time when we are seeing violence rise, unemployment rise and growing concern from our communities about what life will be like once things begin to return to normal.”
Ends
The announcement can be seen here.
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