'We can’t be everywhere' - What a night with the Met taught me about police cuts

19 February 2025, 11:57

By Fraser Knight.

@Fraser_Knight

The police get a lot of criticism.

When they get it right, we often see it as officers simply doing the job they’re paid to do. But when they get it wrong, it can be catastrophic.

Quick response and split-second decisions are being made every single minute - and last week, I got to see that in action on a ‘normal’ late shift in West London.

Joining two PCs in their immediate response car, we set off from the station in Feltham at 2.30pm. There were 22 outstanding calls that still needed to be assigned to a unit.

We made our way to one of them, a report of violence and harassment from an ex-partner.

There are almost always outstanding calls, I’m told, across most areas of the capital.

Sometimes there can be 40 or 50 for one team to work through, before any ‘immediate’ calls come in.

Rarely, response teams manage to get them down to zero but to my - and the officers I was with - amazement, it happened while we were on shift.

“I hope you realise, that will change,” Control quickly said on the radio.

Over eight hours, our response car went to 10 incidents in West London, from a vulnerable child being approached by a stranger in a park, to a vehicle flagged up as belonging to a wanted murderer, a crash on the side of a busy road, a person reported missing and a man trying people’s doors.

On each job, what amazed me was the attention to detail by the officers I was with.

During one report of domestic violence, a ‘small talk’ conversation about social media flagged up a potential child safeguarding issue that I completely missed.

The officer’s professional curiosity meant that the problem could be resolved before any major issue had arisen.

At a time when police budgets are being stretched, understandably, so are resources.

The shift I joined had three immediate response cars out, as well as a couple of vans and other vehicles which didn’t have blue-light capability.

Just a few years ago, I was told, there used to be almost three times that number.

But emergency calls were still being answered and responded to with urgency, including a call reporting that a firearm had been spotted.

Frontline officers across policing have told me that, of course, it’s frustrating that someone isn’t always able to come and see you immediately when your phone’s been snatched or your bike’s been cycled away from you at speed.

But at the same time, they say, we should think about the other calls that are being prioritised: the violent attacks and the vulnerable people who have gone missing - and may only have minutes to be found before police are accused of making yet another catastrophic mistake.

And while more funding goes into neighbourhood policing, the question should remain around what the best use of those funds is.

Is it in having more bobbies on the beat, dedicated to the high street to deter and chase down shoplifters?

Or is it in having more officers in immediate response cars, which can get from one side of the town to the other in minutes, to help save another child’s life who has been so brutally stabbed?

Each force will decide that for themselves. And each answer will come with its own merits and downfalls.

We’ve always known about the pressures facing frontline officers but seeing first hand the way assertiveness on one job and empathy on the next can be pulled into play so flawlessly is impressive.

As is the ability of teams to finish one call, often harrowing or traumatic, and getting straight back into the car to ask Control to be assigned another of the outstanding reports.

Of course, it’s important that we challenge the police when they get things wrong and that we push to make sure law and order is being maintained on our streets to the highest possible standard.

But we should also remember that there are ‘good bits’ that go on, as normal, every single day.