Police chief’s TV reaction criticised

The reaction by the next Chief Constable for Nottinghamshire to a television documentary about the force has angered some frontline officers.

The makers of Coppers, on Channel 4 on Monday nights, were given unprecedented access to officers at work.

Those who were interviewed spoke frankly, sometimes swearing, about the difficulties of their work.

Officers have told the Advertiser that two days after last week’s first episode, Deputy Chief Constable Chris Eyre, who takes over from Chief Constable Julia Hodson later this year, posted on the force’s intranet that “we let ourselves down.”

In contrast, they said, Assistant Chief Constable Paul Broadbent posted that he was delighted with the outcome.

The series opener featured detectives dealing with burglary, a suicide, and a sex attack on a ten-year-old boy.

One officer told the Advertiser: “We deal with people who are sick or dangerous and would steal from their own mothers, yet we have to be professional, have to be polite and have to be tolerant.

“Your only release sometimes is humour.

“People are quick to criticise and we don’t need our own bosses jumping on the bandwagon.

“This is often a thankless job. You have to be policeman, politician, social worker and carer.

“The senior command is so far detached from the frontline they may as well be politicians.”

Another officer said: “It is good for the public to see we are ordinary people doing a tough job.”

Another said the programme explained how difficult it could be to get a criminal they knew to be guilty to court.

He said the police were often blamed when someone was not charged and victims often struggled to understand there was insufficient evidence for the realistic possibility of conviction.

A fourth said: “It was honest, raw and how it is. It wasn’t false.”

In a statement, Deputy Chief Constable Eyre credited Nottinghamshire’s officers for the lowest crime rates in 30 years and a significant rise in public satisfaction.

He said the overall reaction to the first two episodes of Coppers had been positive and supportive, but some found the programmes uncomfortable viewing and had expressed concern or disappointment.

“As these programmes have been broadcast I have taken the opportunity within the force to acknowledge the excellent work shown by many of the participants,” he said.

“I have also explicitly reinforced the values that underpin policing in the United Kingdom and my expectation that police officers and staff will act professionally at all times and demonstrate their commitment to our communities through an unqualified respect for the dignity of those we serve and with whom we work.”