Many years ago, in the twilight of the Callaghan premiership, and with the talk of police strikes, the then Home Secretary, Merlyn Rees, set up a commission under Edmund Davies (patron saint of the police in E&W) to look into police pay. Apart from the huge hike in police pay, one thing that sticks in my mind was the report's list of duties performed by the police and "providers of social services in the last resort" was one. He was wrong in that the police are often the social services of first resort, bearing in mind the amount of social problems occurring outside the hours other professionals are available. FWIW, I get the impression that the people who don't work anti-social hours include a growing part of the police service.
Re huge hike in police pay, to declare my interest, Merlyn Rees tried to squirm out of meeting the recommended pay award but it was implemented in full by the Thatcher government and my pay doubled overnight.