A UNISON report published (launched on 16 March) reveals the damaging impact of government cuts to police scientific services – with 83 per cent of police staff surveyed saying scenes of crime officer jobs had been cut in forces in England and Wales. Sixty one per cent reported job losses among fingerprint experts.
The report – Government cuts to police scientific services: a crime scene investigation – reveals the majority of respondents (92 per cent) have reported job losses in their teams since 2010. And 46 per cent said that job cuts were due to collaboration between forces, made necessary by the government’s 20 per cent cuts to police budgets.
The police scientific services staff still in post, complain they nolonger have the resources to investigate all crime, meaning that vital clues to catching criminals are not being picked up.
Police staff also told UNISON their equipment is now outdated and that training has been put on hold.
UNISON national officer Ben Priestley said: “It is clear that the government has not protected frontline services as it initially promised. Cutting forensic services and particularly crime scenes investigators (CSIs) will have a huge impact on the number of crimes that can be solved.
“The public will be concerned to discover that not all DNA evidence is now sent for analysis, because police forces simply can’t afford it.
“There is something deeply wrong in policing if a lack of budgets means criminals are going unpunished.
“UNISON members who work as CSIs, fingerprint experts and other key scientific services roles are frustrated and angry at the damage that the government cuts are having on their ability to do their jobs.
“The government will need to reassure the public that crimes will still be investigated and any evidencesent for analysis.
“UNISON is calling on ministers to reverse these damaging cuts to ensure police forces have the resources to properly investigate crime and bring offenders to justice.”
The police forces with the biggest job cuts in scientific services are:
· Leicester police: 42 per cent
· Northamptonshire police: 42 per cent
· Northumbria police: 32 per cent
· Gloucestershirepolice: 26 per cent
· Hertfordshire police: 25 per cent
· Warwickshire police: 23 per cent
In the report, police staff working in scientific services say:
“Team morale has completely gone out of the window. We don’t examine as many crime scenes as we used to so it’s got to mean that vital evidence is being missed.”
“DNA budget cuts result in more restrictions on how many items are sent for DNA, thus potentially letting criminals slip through the net.”
“We’ve been unable to keep up with demand in normal working hours, pressured into working overtime, extended unpaid hours. Lost cases in court as work wasn’t completed in time, overall stress levels are through the roof. Morale is at its lowest. Colleagues are actively looking for work elsewhere.”
“We can no longer deal with major and volume crimes at the same time without causing major disruption or put the right amount of staff to a scene without endangering the evidence.”
“We’ve lost 150 years plus on forensic experience. We now have less experienced workforce under increased pressure.”
Ends
UNISON press office: Fatima Ayad on 07508 080383 or f.ayad@unison.co.uk
Notes to editors
The report is available from the UNISON media team.
283 UNISON members working in scientific services in police forces in England and Wales responded to an online survey in January 2015.