Police federation chair warns of officer 'exodus' as she urges Prime Minister to 'get behind policing'
Aileen O'Connor says officers are treated as "the last piece of the pie" when it comes to funding
A policing boss has called on Andy Burnham to “realise what it’s like to be a police officer” as she warned of an exodus of officers from forces across the country.
Aileen O’Connor, chair of the Thames Valley Police Federation, urged the Prime Minister to “get behind policing” as she demanded better support and funding.
It comes as Ms O’Connor revealed a petition, which she launched in a bid to block the early release of the killers of Thames Valley Police officer Andrew Harper, will still be handed in to Downing Street on Wednesday – despite Mr Burnham announcing they will no longer be eligible.
“What we need to see now is, we need to see the Government, the current sitting Government, get behind policing,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We need better funding. We need better support.
“And we need to make sure that we are treated fairly by this Government that’s sitting, and address the issues that police officers face every single day.”
“What I’d like the Prime Minister to realise is what it’s like to be a police officer in this day and age, in 2026,” she added.
“Every 10 minutes in the UK an officer is assaulted. Sometimes seriously assaulted, and sometimes they lose their lives.”
The latest Home Office statistics available show more than 39,000 reports of “officer assaults” were recorded in use of force reports in the year to April 2025.
This figure included nearly 16,200 instances of police officers being injured.
Ms O’Connor said: “And there’s an exodus still happening across police forces in this country, and they (the Government) really need to address that.
“We need to have proper funding. This part of the puzzle, what they’ve done in terms of the early release scheme, that’s just one part of the puzzle for me.
“Everything needs to be addressed, a root and branch review of the criminal justice system, the court system, sentencing, you name it, because what we’ve seen previously is funding for policing in this country has… we are always the last piece of the pie.
“We always get the crumbs at the end, and that needs to change. The focus needs to change for me.”
The Government’s plan to free up capacity in the UK’s overcrowded male prison estate was subject to intense backlash after it was revealed Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of Pc Harper’s manslaughter in 2020, could eligible for early release from next year.
But under fresh changes announced on Sunday, anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter and death by dangerous driving, will be excluded.
Excluding manslaughter means the killers of Pc Andrew Harper, who died in the line of duty in 2019, will also not be eligible for early release, the Justice Secretary said.
Ms O’Connor set up a petition against the early release of his killers, which had reached more than a million signatures as of Wednesday morning.
Thames Valley Police Federation will deliver a letter with the petition to Downing Street on Wednesday.
Asked why the association would still do this, as Pc Harper’s killers will not be part of the scheme to deal with prison overcrowding, Ms O’Connor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Because I think it’s important.
“When I started this journey, in terms of starting the petition, I started it to see whether I could galvanise the public’s opinion and whether it was the same as my view and my members’ view.
“And we got over a million signatures. We’re up to 1,071,000 people of the Great British public who have backed that campaign.
“And I think it’s right for them to cement their strength of feeling and the pressure that we put as a result of that petition that has made the changes that have come to fruition.
“And I think it’s a bit of history for me that, as I say, it’s the end of the journey for this particular campaign, and it’s right to deliver that petition.”
Ms O’Connor said the number of signatures showed “the British public are behind policing”.