EXCLUSIVE Police forces spent £34million of taxpayer cash on 753 spin doctors last year – despite thousands of crimes going unsolved every day
- Forces increased their total spending on communications staff by more than 8%
- Taxpayers’ Alliance’s Tom Ryan said ‘forces should focus funds on fighting crime’
Police forces spent £34million of taxpayer cash on spin doctors last year despite thousands of crimes going unsolved daily, the Mail can reveal.
Constabularies have hired at least 753 full-time employees in communication roles with questionable job titles, such as ‘graphic designer’ and ‘TV and events assistant’, to battle scandals and improve their image.
Forces increased their total spending on communications staff by more than 8 per cent last year, adding 16 full-time staff members, despite the ongoing policing crisis.
Tom Ryan of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, who carried out the research, said: ‘Taxpayers are tired of their cash going towards misplaced priorities and non-jobs of questionable value.
‘While huge numbers of crimes go unsolved, police are spending more and more on spin doctors.
Police forces spent £34million of taxpayer cash on spin doctors last year despite thousands of crimes going unsolved daily (file image)
‘Forces should focus funds on fighting crime, not fighting fires in the media.’
Police Scotland spent more than £3.1million on communication staff in 2021/22, according to the data, which was obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland forked out £2.5million, while regional forces in the West Midlands, Essex and South Wales spent £1.8million, £1.5million and £1.4million respectively.
All five have faced scandals in recent years.
The cumulative figure is likely to be higher than £34million, with ten police forces, including the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police, failing to reply to the FOI request.
In 2015, it was revealed that the Met Police have an annual communications budget of more than £10million.
More than 5,000 crimes are now going unsolved every day, figures show.
Forces increased their total spending on communications staff by more than 8 per cent last year (stock image)
The latest analysis shows 1.47million criminal cases were closed by police without a suspect being identified between January and September 2022.
A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: ‘Police communications teams play an important role in the day-to-day function of police forces, supporting the activity of their force across many different areas, including operational activities.
‘They do this through a variety of ways, such as press releases to keep the public informed on investigations, appeals for missing persons and social media posts to raise awareness of crime trends and how to avoid falling victim.’
