The Government’s indecision over the early release of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers made his colleagues’ jobs harder, Kemi Badenoch will say.
The Conservative leader will tell the Police Federation that the job of a police officer has been “made harder” in recent years.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham initially resisted calls to limit the early release scheme further after it emerged that Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were convicted of Pc Harper’s manslaughter in 2020, would be eligible from next year.
Following a backlash, the Government said anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter and death by dangerous driving, would be excluded.
Bowers and Cole, who were handed 13-year sentences, were passengers in the car that dragged Pc Harper down a country road after he got caught in a strap attached to the vehicle as they fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.
Ms Badenoch will say in her speech: “The job of a police officer is to catch criminals and keep our streets safe. That is what the public expects. And it is also why people join the police.
“I know that in recent years your job has been made harder.
“PC Andrew Harper’s colleagues’ jobs were made harder, when they were told his killers were going to be released early from prison.”
Elsewhere in her speech, the Tory leader is expected to say police officers have not had the backing they deserve.
“In recent years we have too often failed to recognise sacrifice and service,” she will say.
“Whether it’s hounding our brave veterans through the courts; or hounding police officers who tried to do the right thing through tribunals; or hounding ordinary members of the public who step in to help only to find themselves in trouble themselves.
“It’s no wonder that people in this country are becoming too scared to wade in, too scared to do the right thing.”