Police detective 'too poor' to afford son's school meals and fears losing home
18.05.2022 - 23:39
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A police officer regularly has to ask her mum for help affording to feed her young son and put fuel in her car, despite working as a detective.
Vicky Knight, a detective constable with North Wales Police service, told the Police Federation annual conference that she has 'never felt this poor'.
The 47-year-old spoke of her 'embarrassment' at having to ask family for money just to afford the basics and worries she could lose her home, Devon Live reports.
She added that others are in the same boat, with herself and colleagues “desperately struggling to do the job that we love and to make ends meet”.
The Police Federation rep questioned the Home Secretary - who was told to "put her money where her mouth is" at the conference.
“I have never known it to be this bad in 23 years’ service. I have never felt this poor. The separated mother-of-one added: “I was scared on Saturday.
"I had no money left, and I mean like at the end of my overdraft, not a penny. And I had to go cap in hand to my mum.
“I’m 47 years old, I’ve been a professional for 20 years, it’s a professional job, and I had to go to my mum and say, 'It’s been a five weekend month mum, and I have got no money left and I need to buy school dinners'."
Ms Knight asked Priti Patel if she could live on the take-home pay of a probationary officer, £1,200 a month to “go out and get kicked and spat at”. The officer said: “I could see the shock in her face when I asked her, ‘Could you live off twelve hundred pound a month?’.
“She’s a mum herself. She’s a woman doing a very difficult job in a very male-orientated environment. What would you do if you found yourself in this situation?”
During her speech, the Home Secretary said she was “very proudly pro-police” as she unveiled plans to