The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) last week announced that complaints against officers from Thames Valley Police rose by 23% last year.

In total the IPCC recorded 1,167 complaints against the force in 2009/10, compared with 947 the previous year. The total number of allegations contained within the complaints was 2,183, which was an increase of 15%. Nationally, complaints rose by 8% last year, up to 33,854.

Reductions to the budget

This news comes soon after Thames Valley Police's recent announcement that 270 jobs will be lost in this financial year after its budget was cut by £12 million.

Members of the public, including motorists, are likely to be concerned by both of these developments.

If resources have to be spread more thinly across the Thames Valley, then each individual officer will have to do more in the time available and there will be less time for officers to attend training courses etc. This means that there could be more errors and mistakes. No one wants to see that. Training courses are not luxury items. It is important that officers attend high quality training courses so that they can do their job better, which everyone benefits from.

Motorists

It seems clear how these difficulties could manifest themselves in relation to motorists.

If the budget is cut and the funds are not there for training then roads policing officers will have to do more work in more pressurised surroundings. The potential for errors is obvious: was that laser speed measuring device working correctly? Has the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Guidance been complied with? Has that evidential breath testing instrument been properly calibrated? How reliable is that police officer's evidence?

Has the officer been properly trained? That should be taken as a given but cannot be in the current climate. No one should take anything for granted, particularly in the light of the IPCC figures and the reduction of resources available to the police.

Members of the public must be able to have confidence in the police. They must be able to have confidence in the job that they do and in the quality of their work. No one can doubt that the police are working hard. The question is are they working well?

The two are most definitely not the same.