Hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ cash doled out to fringe police groups representing homosexuals, women and Muslims is to be axed.
Home Office chiefs said they could no longer afford to fund the minority police groups. These also include in-force associations that support transsexuals, Sikhs, Christians, disabled and black police officers. Last night beat bobbies were “over the moon” at the decision.
But bosses at the staff associations slammed the decision, warning it could lead to their collapse. Zaheer Ahmed, president of the National Association of Muslim Police, said cutting funds would deprive the police of “important religious and cultural voices” and could see policing thrown back to the 1970s.
Funding will stop from April 1.
Update: The National Secular Society has predictably come out in support of the withdrawal of funding from NAMP. NSS president Terry Sanderson is quoted as saying: “The rise of these minority groups within the force has been a dangerous development, and we are very pleased that the funding has come to an end, albeit on grounds of cost rather than desirability.” Another of these “minority groups” is the Gay Police Association, and we look forward to Sanderson explaining to the LGBT community why he applauds the ending of funding for that group.