'Don't blame police officers for complex issue that is systemic racism', says South Yorkshire Police Federation chairman

Steve Kent, chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation, has told The Yorkshire Post how recent headlines over the Black Lives Matter movement had led to what he called “unfair” criticisms of frontline officers.

Mr Kent has also criticised rhetoric in “some sections” of the British media as being anti-police, adding that forces were facing financial uncertainty and pressure to recruit more staff.

“There seems to be a hidden agenda against the police at the moment,” Mr Kent said.

“A lot seems to stem from the Black Lives Matter movement and the repeated use of phrases such as 'defund the police'. I'm not sure we could take any more cuts to funding."

Calls to cut law enforcement funding come from the United States following a history of police violence against black people, with campaigners suggesting money should instead be reinvested into public health and community services.

Mr Kent added: “Of course there is systemic racism, I’m not denying it. But what is not being said is that this issue is a wider, more complex, socio-economic issue and very often police are just the ones responding to 999 calls. At the end of the day, we are only trying to deal with the problems there in front of us.”

He added that police had been facing more and more pressure dealing with crime levels due to the “lack of funding” over recent years.

Mr Kent’s comments come as a former Metropolitan Police officer issued an impassioned plea on Monday for more empathy with officers.

John Sutherland, who is a prolific blogger about his experiences working in the police, wrote in a post: “Sections of the media have abandoned any last pretence of objectivity and impartiality and declared open season on the girls and boys in blue.

“The one-eyed occupiers of comfortable armchairs have done likewise. And, while some MPs appear to have changed their tune in recent times, the political tone was set – and the damage done – by the astonishing level of hostility displayed towards policing by the government first elected in 2010.”

Mr Sutherland added: "I don’t think that policing is perfect – quite the opposite in fact. As I have often said before, I think that police officers – both individually and collectively – are capable of getting things terribly wrong. And, precisely because they are the police, the consequences when they do so can be absolutely devastating. We should never shy away from holding policing up to the light."

Mr Kent echoed this, adding: “Don’t get me wrong, we are not perfect. But we work hard and I think we are twice as better as policing over in America.

“I’ll admit I’m fearful about budget cuts. We’ll be continuing to recruit but it’s well-known that South Yorkshire Police staffing is really low in comparison to the county’s population.”

The Yorkshire Post reported on Saturday how West Yorkshire Police was seeing a budget deficit of between £30 and £40m for the next financial year.

Humberside Police’s Chief Constable Lee Freeman said they too were facing a shortfall of an estimated £10m over the coming five years.

A Home Office spokesman said in response that the Government was providing “the biggest increase in funding for the police in over a decade”, alongside the recruitment of 500 additional officers in Yorkshire and the Humber this year.