Elisa Vasquez-Walters addresses conference

‘Everyone working absorbs a huge amount of trauma’

At this year’s police, probation and CAFCASS service group conference, pay and psychological support led the agenda

We Are Police Staff – new film launches

‘Our police staff members do a vital job to keep communities safe by solving crime and bringing offenders to justice.’

Police staff unions call on employers to reopen pay talks

Resignation of chair from the employers’ side reveals scale of the crisis in the service

Police officers on a Glasgow street

Government must intervene to protect policing in Warwickshire 

Plans to cut 85 police staff roles must be halted

Police staff now less representative of communities, says UNISON

The proportion of police staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BME) employed by police forces in England and Wales has fallen dramatically, says UNISON research published today (Wednesday). There has been a drop of nearly a third in the proportion of BME police community support officers (PCSOs), according to an analysis of Home […]

Crossing the line – the worrying rise of the volunteer police force

More police forces are using more volunteers in more roles as they reduce the number of staff they employ – so UNISON asked forces in England and Wales to try and explain what is happening

Volunteers taking on police roles as cuts continue to bite

Cash-strapped police forces are filling some key job vacancies with unpaid volunteers amid ongoing cutbacks, says a report published today (Friday) by UNISON. The number of police support volunteers (PSVs) being used across England and Wales has soared to more than 6,000 – the equivalent of a 15% rise – in just four years from […]

Cuts to police and justice sector put communities at risk, says UNISON

Rising crime rates can no longer be ignored by the government.

Probation rescue plans will be disastrous

This is the last chance saloon for the probation service and rescue plans proposed by the MoJ just don’t cut the mustard.

Drop in criminals facing court as police lack resources to investigate

The number of reported crimes ending with a suspect in court has dropped along with police staff, while the use of volunteers in the police force is on the rise

Cutting Suffolk’s police community support officers risks public safety, says UNISON

Plans announced today (Tuesday) to axe more than half of Suffolk’s police community support officers (PCSOs) would put public safety at risk, says UNISON. The proposed cuts by Suffolk Constabulary would see a 78% reduction in the number of PCSOs in the county since 2010, says the union*. UNISON national officer for police and justice […]

Probation service is not fit for purpose

Commenting on the report Transforming Rehabilitation published today (Friday) by the Justice Select Committee, UNISON national officer for probation Ben Priestley said: “This shows the government’s probation reforms have failed and must be replaced. “Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service has shown itself to be totally unfit to be in charge. It’s not only failing […]

Scrapping police community support officers is short-sighted

Dave Prentis urges the Home Secretary to intervene

Axing Norfolk’s PCSOs will make the county a less safe place

It’s no coincidence that as PCSO jobs have disappeared across the UK, crime rates have soared

The timeline of a crime

You call 999, you’re put through to someone, the police arrive… But of course, it’s never as simple as that