A former Merseyside Police officer has defended the force’s record in dealing with violent crime against women but says plans to reform the criminal justice system won’t work without extra funding.
Nick Kealey, a former police sergeant who is now a university lecturer, said Merseyside officers should be proud of the work that they do.
However, he said that plans to reform the justice system are unrealistic without the provision of extra cash.
“The problem is we’ve heard the same thing from numerous governments back to Tony Blair – ‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’.
“It’s difficult now to find representation at little or no cost to society, simply because of the reduction in fees across the whole system.
“There is always going to be an impact when budgets are cut and jobs are lost.”
Last week, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said that misogyny can be “a man against a women or a women against a man”, leading to public doubt about the Government’s understanding of the subject.
Kelly Teeboon, the founder of LJMU’s feminist society, said recent events had affected women’s relationships with police.
“It’s somehow women’s responsibility to protect ourselves from the law and I think it’s made a lot of women angry.
“It’s not about individual men attacking individual women – it’s a societal and systematic problem. I don’t think there’s a problem with just the police, I think there’s a problem with the criminal justice system.”
