London, February 07: More than 10,000 police officers in England and Wales are to be cut over the next two years in what the Labour party said yesterday was an example of the “shocking and brutal reality” of the government’s spending cuts.
According to Labour’s research, the job losses would be a consequence of cutting the police budget by a fifth by 2014-15.
“Far from protecting frontline policing as ministers promised, over 10,000 police officers are being cut in the next few years alone,” said Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary.
“That’s 10,000 fewer police officers fighting crime, solving serious cases, or keeping our country safe. Cutting so fast and so deep into police budgets is crazy. It is completely out of touch with communities across the country who want to keep bobbies on the beat.”
The Labour party said: “These figures expose the claim from the Tory-led Government that they can cut the police budget by 20 per cent and still protect the frontline as false.” It said in addition to cutting full-time police officers, thousands of staff jobs would also have to go. The research looked at all 42 police authorities except for British Transport Police.
Political issue
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said it would not comment as the matter was a “political issue” but referred to a statement given following the government’s spending review. In December Acpo’s lead on finance and resources, chief constable Grahame Maxwell, said: “These figures make clear that there are difficult choices ahead for the police service, for police partners and for government.”
“The cumulative impact of cutting police budgets year-on-year will translate into reductions of police officers and staff across the service. The extent of the cuts will depend on the financial circumstances of each force and the different reliance that each force has on local and central funding streams.”
The centre-right thinktank Civitas last month embarrassed the government by saying that planned police cuts would be a boost for criminals.
A report, “2011: the start of a great decade for criminals?” said the public would face a greater risk of crime because the government had decided to cut its contribution to police funding by 20 per cent over the next four years, leading to a fall in the number of officers.
The report’s author, Nick Cowen, said: “While police numbers and resources are far from the only contributor to police effectiveness, it seems highly unlikely that the swingeing cuts now being enacted will be made without significantly decreasing detection rates.”
The police claims the cuts will cost up to 40,000 officers their jobs. About 1,000 Metropolitan officers could go. The government argues that a direct link between crime levels and police numbers is not supported by the evidence.
–Agencies