In an exclusive interview, the Chief Constable of South Wales Police Matt Jukes told CJS News that his force needs more money and resources to deal with the major events that come to the capital.
Speaking on a wide range of subjects including knife crime and county lines, he described how the demand of managing events like the NATO summit and the Rugby World Cup detracts from every day duties.
He said: “It’s the biggest issue for us that as a capital city we are not funded for our capital city demands. The sporting, cultural and political events that take place are largely unfunded. If I had the resources that (the events) take I could put 60 additional officers tomorrow into issues like knife crime.
It is that demand that .. does impact on our wider policing capability.” He added.
“We’re talking to Government here in Wales and Government in London about the need to properly fund the capital city.”
“We’re also talking to event organisers to make sure they’re running safe events with good stewarding and infrastructure.”
South Wales Police are facing a funding deficit of £16m for next year. The force have largest budget of the four Welsh police forces, with £271m for the year 2018-2019.
Jo Stevens, the Labour MP for Cardiff Central, has already raised the issue in the House of Commons on St. David’s Day.
In a statement today, she said: “I’ve consistently called on the Government for capital city funding for South Wales Police as it endeavours to deal with the hundreds of large-scale events that we host in our city each year. Despite questions and meetings with Tory Ministers, they ignore the needs of our capital city.
We are proud to host huge football, rugby, cultural, political and royal events on an annual basis, they are good for our local economy and go a long way to promoting Cardiff, and Wales, on the world stage.
Tory and Lib Dem police funding cuts since 2010 are directly contributing to the rise in violent crime and our city centre police cannot meet the increasing demands on them with less funding. It’s scandalous that the Home Secretary will not properly resource them.”
The Home Office have been approached for comment but have not yet responded.
