‘Policing needs to be kept public’

Members of Unison police branches from across Beds, Herts and Cambridgeshire came together on Wednesday night to unite in a call to ‘Keep Policing Public’.

The event, part of the ongoing campaign against the privatisation of police services, featured speakers including Unison vice president Maureen Le Marinel, regional secretary Glyn Hawker, and Herts police branch treasurer Mark Watson.

Members are campaigning against the proposed outsourcing of back office functions across the three counties to private firm G4S.

Mr Watson said: “In public service we feel morally obliged to do what is right and necessary to help those affected by crime; in private enterprise the only imperative is to service contractual obligations and thereby maximise profit.”