The loss of 16,000 police officers since 2010 is putting the public in unnecessary danger, Alex Cunningham has warned, and further cuts to policing budgets risk further jeopardising public safety.
Despite assurances from the Prime Minister in 2010 that frontline policing would not be affected, some 8,000 police officers have already been lost from the frontline. And with Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Barry Coppinger, confirming that further cuts to the Police Grant Settlement will mean a reduction in police funding locally of over £4.5 million, a negative impact on policing standards seems unavoidable.
During Parliamentary Questions to the Home Office in the House of Commons, Alex asked:
“There has been a net loss of 293 police officers from the Cleveland police service since 2010, and our police commissioner says that the budget has been cut by another 5.1 per cent, which could further jeopardise public safety. Does the Home Secretary agree that such losses and cuts are the reasons behind the drop in confidence in policing for the first time in a decade?”
However, the Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims was unable to explain away this loss of confidence and sought instead to highlight the admirable manner in which Cleveland Police has dealt with cuts that will see the force £35 million worse off than in 2010/11.
Speaking after the Question session, Alex said:
“Despite already facing savage cuts, police forces around the country have been told to prepare for more of the same during the next Parliament. It is extremely worrying that the Association of Chief Police Officers is estimating that a further 6,000 frontline officers will need to be cut to meet budget reductions between 2015-17.
“Even more alarmingly, I understand that the Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police has written to the Home Secretary warning that current funding arrangements will result in his force becoming unsustainable by 2019 and identifying a real risk that his may be the first force to fall.
“I am in no doubt that further cutting of policing budgets will further decimate our police forces and place even more pressure on a service that is already under-resourced and overstretched. With similar cuts to local government services, our police officers will be expected to do more with less and this is simply an unrealistic proposition.
“While Cleveland Police deserve praise for innovative collaboration with partner organisations in managing funding reductions to date, there is only a finite amount of pressure that they can shoulder before the cracks start to emerge and these further cuts may breach that tipping point.”