Wiltshire Police force funds employee foodbank

Wiltshire Police is helping fund a foodbank for officers and staff who are struggling to make ends meet.

The outgoing Chief Constable said he is worried rates of pay are forcing people out of the profession.

Kier Pritchard was speaking as part of his final exclusive interview before he retires at the end of February.

Below we cover some of the headlines, listen here in full on BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"We should not be talking in the 21st century about having a foodbank for public servants, let alone police officers, who are putting their lives on the line every day," Kier Pritchard said.

He said Wiltshire Police is helping fund food parcels for officers who are struggling to make ends meet because of their pay.

"People are very much terrified not just by the concept but the reality of the cost of living pressures right now," he added.

"My officers and staff are feeling this on a day by day basis."

The force has joined the staff union Unison and the Wiltshire Police Federation in funding the food parcel supply.

The so-called 'Law & Larder' cupboard in Devizes headquarters is in the officer of Federation chair Phil Matthews.

Mr Matthews said: "This is not something that we're proud that we have to do, but we have to do it as our cops need it."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We recognise the impact of the cost of living, which is why we accepted in full the Police Remuneration Review Body's recommendation to award a consolidated increase of £1,900 to all ranks of police officers.

"The overwhelming majority of new recruits recently surveyed report positive job satisfaction and want to remain officers for the rest of their working lives," the spokesperson added.

On Kier Pritchard's very first day in the job as chief, news emerged there had been a nerve agent attack on the streets of Salisbury.

Within hours of taking charge of the force, it became apparent this would be an incident like no other in the history of Wiltshire Police.

"It absolutely changed everything about the security and state of normality in this country" said Mr Pritchard.

To see the city of his birth "go from a small beautiful part of the community to the centre of global news" was utterly surreal.

Due to an upcoming public inquiry about the Novichok attack, he was reluctant to publicly give more details about the operation.

Last year, an independent report was critical of Kier Pritchard's role in bringing killer Christopher Halliwell to justice.

Halliwell had already been convicted for the murder of Swindon woman Sian O'Callaghan, but significant opportunities to convict him for the murder of Becky Godden were missed during a flawed investigation, the report said.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the investigation "was poorly supervised", an area for which Kier Pritchard had responsibility at the time.

"I can only apologise," Mr Pritchard said, acknowledging greater supervision should have been in place.

"It is with deep regret that it prolonged the very difficult anguish, heartache and agony those families were experiencing."

Kier Pritchard is stepping down as chief at a time of intense scrutiny for Wiltshire Police.

The force was placed into special measures in 2022, with the independent inspectorate finding widespread failings in how the force is run.

He insists his departure is of his own choosing, after five years in charge, and 30 years within the force that he joined age 19.

"There will be people running a commentary that (I'm) leaving because the force is in special measures but that's absolutely not the case."

He said he is confident the force now has "good foundations" to make rapid improvements, but the job of pulling that off will now fall to his successor.

Catherine Roper - until now a senior commander at the Metropolitan Police - is due to take charge on 27 February.

"I've never seen the challenges and scrutiny as severe as it is now," Mr Pritchard said.

The number of recent high profile cases of abuse and misconduct by serving police officers across the country have "threatened the very essence of consent, of trust, of confidence, and I really do worry about what the future of policing will bring unless we can get that trust back".

He said huge training and cultural changes are needed across policing to restore trust which "is now lower than at any time in my 30 years".

His force is reviewing every allegation of misconduct to ensure each case has been properly dealt with.

His departure marks the end of 60 years' police service by the Pritchard family - Kier's father served decades in the force before his son joined.

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