The BBC has excelled itself in its latest example of pro-Labour anti-Coalition ‘cuts’ propaganda.
No other word for it but propaganda.
If this can’t persuade a reasoned person that the BBC’s politicised reports are no more than Labour Party press releases I’m not sure what could.
The HMIC has released this report into how police forces are managing the cuts to their budgets:
Policing in Austerity: Rising to the Challenge
It is essentially positive and commends most forces for their achievements in cutting their budgets whilst maintaining or even improving their service.
It has a few concerns one of which is that neighbourhood policing ‘risks being eroded’ if officers are also used on other tasks….note that it talks of the ‘potential risk’ not of any evidence that there is any actual damage being done…and that:
The College of Policing is already looking at this area of policing, and HMIC will examine how neighbourhood police resources are allocated in the autumn.
It is a point of interest but not the major point…that being the positive nature of the report.
The BBC take a different view, this being the headlining report on their front page:
Watchdog warns over local policing
Neighbourhood policing risks being “eroded” but forces are praised for coping well with budget cuts as figures suggest that crime is down.
Recorded crime down 7%, ONS says
Cuts ‘lead to slower 999 response’
The BBC are almost entirely concentrating on ‘cuts’ and any supposed detrimental effects they might have.
But look at that ‘Cuts ‘lead to slower 999 response’…..who is the source for that story?:
Cuts to police budgets have resulted in slower response times to 999 calls, Labour has claimed.
This is entirely a story concocted by Labour..timed to be released along with the HMIC report….and the BBC willingly give it frontpage status and immense ‘credibility’.
And look who they report as backing Labour’s ‘findings’…
Durham police and crime commissioner Ron Hogg said he “totally supported” Ms Cooper’s concerns.
He said: “The pace and depths of the cuts is entirely unnecessary and is increasingly bringing undue pressure on the front line.
What the BBC neglect to tell you is just who Ron Hogg is:
Ron Hogg is Labour’s Police & Crime Commissioner in Durham & Darlington. … number: 03000 264631 Email address: enquiries@durham-pcc.gov.uk
Strange that the HMIC report doesn’t mention this slow 999 response time….it in fact gives information that would imply the opposite….there are more officers on the frontline…and that neighbourhood officers are also now being used to respond to 999 calls when they were not so used before apparently.
So the BBC have run a story headlining the worst case scenario…one of ‘potential’ only as yet…and backed up Labour Party scare mongering about response times using a Labour Party stooge.
Such stories from the BBC have one intended purpose…to damage the Public’s confidence in the Police and to blame that upon the Coalition’s ‘cuts’. It is blatant scaremongering and the BBC have engaged in it shamelessly with their political fellow travellers in the Labour Party.
Yes, BBC-NUJ’s pre-arranged anti-Government propaganda fills the airwaves, on a day when crimes rates fell!
On the Radio stations I listened to today, it was all good news from this Police report to the economy reports, things appear to be looking up. But no, the BBC just had to find something to paint a negative picture didn’t they? Nowhere had I heard today about this slow 999 response problem, or alleged problem. You couldn’t make it up could you? Oh, hang on a minute??? Err, maybe you can?
Well I BBC claiming it was ‘reported’ crime that had fallen, the inference being that ‘actual’ crime was not being reported ( no doubt due to the severity of government cuts.)
Yes, I concur with this, there was definite emphasis on the ‘reported’ dovetailed immediately with “fewer police” blah blah blah…i.e giving the impression fewer police + less reporting
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