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The chair of a body representing police officers has said some fear using their powers in a proactive way.

West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke claimed there were risk averse police officers at both ground level and in senior positions.

Some officers feared being over scrutinised and dealt with by an arbitrary misconduct system while bosses worried about social issues, he said.

He was responding to remarks by the prime minister who claimed the UK was heading for "mob rule" and called for more robust responses to protests.

Mr Cooke said there were a number of reasons why officers might not use their powers in a given situation.

He explained the police should not be recoiling from the proactive use of powers, but this depended on the threat being faced.

"The response comes down to the basis of numbers a lot of the time," he said. “It’s not for political reasons but ends up being perceived as being political.”

Mr Cooke claimed there was a "crisis of confidence" driven by inexperienced officers, something he believes will get worse after the government announced police chiefs will oversee misconduct hearings rather than independent chairs.

“There’s a risk aversion in policing and it’s at ground level with individual officers,” Mr Cooke said.

“They fear using their powers in a proactive way to stop crime because they fear being over scrutinised and dealt with by an arbitrary misconduct system.

“Then you have some risk averse senior officers who are worrying about social issues.

“It’s always a balancing act but for some people the risk aversion has gone too far."

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