A cheap shot to deflect blame from the abortion that is the justice system.

[Grumpmeister]

So you havent helped create a system where the police are underfunded, overstreched and have morale at an all time low because of the flood of stupid laws and the abortion that is the human rights act. The reason why crime is on the increase is because officers prefer to be in the warm? Straw you arrogant bastard, This government has been responsible for the growth of an underclass that see's crime as a career option and the police find themselves under equipped and short handed with one hand tied behind their back. Whats the point of arresting Wayne or Clamidia for B&E if they will only get a punishment that is a joke, thats assuming the trial makes it that far and they don't claim that arresting them was a breach of their human rights.

Police have criticised comments by Jack Straw who said he was "sceptical" when officers claimed they were overworked or spent hours filling in forms.

He told the BBC some enjoyed being in the station "in the warm" while others finished forms quicker "because they want to get out and catch criminals".

The justice secretary said it was often due to leadership in different forces.

Police groups said the comments were "irresponsible and inflammatory" and "not constructive".

Mr Straw, who was home secretary between 1997 and 2001, was asked about "overworked" police forces asking people to register minor crimes online.

'Less efficient'

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm afraid I'm rather sceptical about the excuse that a public service, in this case the police, is overworked and therefore can't change.

"With a given level of resources, some police forces, or some parts of police forces do very much better than others. And it is the ones who are the less efficient and who have the wrong approach to the public who fall back on this 'Oh, I'm overworked' [argument]."

He said while some officers would claim it took four hours to fill in forms, "good police officers will take an hour to fill in the same forms because they want to get out and catch criminals".

He added: "Some police officers, whatever they say, actually quite enjoy being in the police station in the warm. We are dealing with human beings, but we are also dealing with the kind of discipline and culture in the police service."

'Irresponsible'

Around the country, while some police forces were "up for it, getting crime down and really motoring" neighbouring forces had still "not got it together", he said.

"It is not about money, it is about leadership, organisation and culture."

His remarks were criticised by groups representing both rank-and-file officers and police chiefs.

Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, described them as "irresponsible and inflammatory".

"It wasn't police officers who brought in 3,000 new laws, it wasn't police officers who brought in a 30-page prosecution file and it wasn't police officers who brought in multiple forms and authorities to use a pair of binoculars," he said.

"This was all done by politicians. Police officers are not the architects of bureaucracy, they and the public are the victims of it."

And Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) president Sir Hugh Orde said the "overwhelming majority" of police officers went to work to do a good job and keep the public safe.

"These comments are not constructive and do not reflect the hard work and danger that many officers face day-to-day," he said.

A Conservative Party spokesman said ministers were "utterly out of touch with what is really happening in policing".

"They heap more and more bureaucracy onto our police, leaving them filling in form after form, often with the same information on it, and then pretend that nothing is wrong," he said.

"It's not police officers who are sitting at their desks in the warm - it's ministers stuck in their ivory towers."

And for the Liberal Democrats, Chris Huhne said: "It is a cheap shot to blame individual police officers for the failings of their forces.

"Police forces vary enormously in their effectiveness even though they face the same unnecessary bureaucracy, and the way to improve laggard forces is through strong local accountability with elected police authorities."

[Snoopy]

Mr Reed is wrong with his figures. This government has created over 3600 new OFFENCES since coming to power. Everyone of us now has the potential to become a criminal without even trying ~ small wonder the plod have given up. They have been totally politicised from the top down and yer average beat bobby doesn't like it one bit.

[Nick]

I heard that interview. The man deserves to be hanged 

[Grumpmeister]

Its another example of what happens when cabinet positions are given out to political cronies instead of people with the knowledge and experience to do the job. I know I've said this before but as long as the cabinet positions are filled by MP's then there is going to be no real progress in fixing this country. The only member of parliament in the cabinet should be the PM. The rest of the cabinet should go through the same recruitment procedure that any responsible company uses. If you havent got the relevant knowledge, qualifications and experience then bugger off and stop wasting our time.