Caller: “My Husband’s A Policeman, But I Still Sleep With A Bat Next To My Bed”

28 December 2017, 09:19

“I have a police officer husband, but I sleep with a baseball bat next to my bed because I know if my house got burgled no one would come,” this caller told LBC.

Emma phoned Andrew Castle after a study found almost half of people living in England and Wales hadn’t seen a bobby on the beat this year.

44 per cent had not seen a uniformed officer in their area in 2017 - up from 41 per ent in 2016 and 36 per cent in 2015.

The results were part of a survey to gauge perceptions of crime, safety and local policing carried out by for HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.

But Emma told Andrew, police are so overstretched, her husband is often one of just four officers dealing with at least 150 jobs in a queue.

“So that would be everything from your 999 call of your house being burgled, to someone in a fight, to a missing child - everything,” she said.

“What is he supposed to do with that? You wonder why you don’t see people on the beat, how is he supposed to have enough people to send on the beat when he hasn’t got enough people to answer 999 calls.”

She continued: “I don’t think you realise how serious this is.

“I have a police officer husband, but I sleep with a baseball bat next to my bed because I know if my house got burgled no one would come.

“This is how bad the situation is.”