Claims of “two-tier policing” are “almost impossible to defend against”, a senior officer has said.
College of Policing chief executive Sir Andy Marsh said that any tensions between communities and local forces are an “existential threat” to policing.
Speaking at the Society of Editors’ Media Freedom Conference in London on Tuesday, Sir Andy said that police officers feeling trusted and valued “has a big impact on their legitimacy”.
He said: “If there is a bad feeling between the community at large and the police, that is an existential threat to policing, I’ll put it out there, that’s the direction of travel that we could be going in.
“I think that two-tier policing is almost impossible to defend yourself against allegations of in a world where public opinion is binary.”
Sir Andy added: “I’m hoping that there are 70% or 80% of people in the middle that rely on the police, trust the police.”
However, the officer also said that forces must improve at communicating with the public and that there have been increased efforts to train aspiring chief officers on how to deal with the media.
Sir Andy said there had been occasions where forces had shown “pitiful risk aversion about putting themselves in front of cameras”, saying he expects them to “do better”.
He told the conference that Merseyside’s police chief, Serena Kennedy, who “never shies away from answering difficult questions” was “hamstrung by serious restrictions on what she was and wasn’t allowed to say” after the Southport attacks last year.
Sir Andy said that he regularly asks chief constables why information such as video and press releases are not released to the public.
He stressed that communication is the “most important thing in the 21st century” for a police force.
Sir Andy went on: “Policing has had a hell of a bumpy ride over the last three years and a lot is self-inflicted but for the sake of society … we do need to turn the corner here.”
