Top policeman says cuts will mean fewer officers
Updated on 29 June 2010
Cuts in police budgets will mean fewer officers on the streets according to one of Britain's top policemen. Home Affairs Correspondent Andy Davies reports on Sir Hugh Orde's warning as Theresa May insists savings on red tape are the key target.
In draft notes of a speech leaked to a newspaper, Sir Hugh Orde predicts that frontline patrols will not escape cuts – something other senior officers have insisted is possible.
In a speech to ACPO's annual conference in Manchester today, he said that police have to "share the pain" of public sector cuts and that "hard choices" have to be made. He also warned that that wholesale budget cuts could fragment the work of police, arguing that only police services "combined seamlessly" can keep people safe.
And said "salami slicing" cannot not deliver the savings required, with senior officers nowadays living in a world of "hard choices" over what faces the axe.
Features on this page
- APA chair tells Channel 4 News 'policing numbers will change'
- Views from the Wythenshawe estate
- FactCheck investigates policing figures
- Leaders' debate: coalition policing promises
- Home Secretary unveils 'ruthless' policing cuts
Cuts to police staff
Sir Orde said earlier that police numbers, which have been rising steadily since 2000, will fall once the government beings to axe services in a bid to cut Britain's deficit. Last week Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson admitted his force, the country's largest, will "shrink" as a result of budget cuts.
Rob Garnham, chair of the Association of Police Authorities (APA), told Channel 4 News that the government's proposed cuts to spending would affect policing numbers.
"Policing numbers will change," he said.
"We've got to be clear this is not going to be easy, the challenges are there. When 80 per cent of budget is staff - you need to have a look at that. What we have to do is if police numbers fall is reassure the public that we are still delivering that frontline policing."
Mr Garnham said the spending challenges facing the police were giving authorities "some real issues to look at".
"Police authorities have already been making efficient savings and tightening belts. This is not an easy time. Police authorities are ready to accept that challenge."
Mr Garnham added: "We have to make sure the public are at forefront of every decision we make to continue to deliver that frontline policing."
Sir Hugh said today forces may merge units, form joined back-office functions or share expensive equipment but the most efficient changes will be led by government. Home Secretary Theresa May later added that mergers "would not be allowed to happen" unless voluntary and have the support of local communities.
Mr Garnham told Channel 4 News that mergers would be "short term" solutions to a cut in policing budgets.
"I don’t foresee a rush of authorities in coming forward to merge," he told Channel 4 News, adding that "smaller forces may be saying this is a possibility".
Greater savings could come from "greater collaboration" the chairman said.
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Less bobbies on the beat?
People living on the Wythenshawe estate in Manchester spoke to Channel 4 News about their concern over the prospect of a drop in the number of police officers on the beat - although some say they don’t often see a visible police presence in the area.
In a visit in 2007 the then head of the opposition David Cameron hit the headlines after one of the hoodies Cameron had urged people to "hug", was photographed pointing to the leader with his hand as a pretend gun.
During the visit Cameron went to an award winning community project run by former bouncers which offers activities to young people to stop them getting involved in crime. Today one of the founders of the project, Greg Davis, told Channel 4 News that there needed to be more police in the area, not less.
"You very rarely see the police on this estate in any case," Mr Davis told Channel 4 News.
"To bring crime down the obvious solution is to put bodies back on the street.
"In any estate if people see that there's no police on the streets or if it's visible that the police are invisible, I suppose, it stands to reason that people will still demand some type of law and order.
"If the police aren't going to provide that service then unfortunately somebody will provide that service - and I think in the past it's nearly always been the villains."
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he wants to avoid cuts in frontline services across the public sector, but Home Secretary Theresa May, who also spoke at today's conference, has avoided questions on police numbers.
Police Minister Nick Herbert has said personnel numbers are not the best measure of success against crime. "Extensive cuts" to the police budget were inevitable, Herbert said while adding that frontline posts should be protected from the axe.
Revisiting the leaders' debate: coalition policing promises
During the televised leaders' debate David Cameron and Nick Clegg - now joint partners in the coalition government - were keen to stress their backing for more police officers on Britain's streets.
In the last of three debates during the election campaign, Conservative leader David Cameron said he would do everything "to protect frontline services" while cutting the budget deficit, adding that he wanted to "see police officers on the beat".
Earlier, in the first debate, Cameron said the justice and policing systems were not working under a Labour government. "We're not seeing enough police on the streets" he said.
"We've got to get rid of the paperwork and the bureaucracy and we've got to get the police out on the streets." 
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, now working aside Cameron as deputy prime minister, said Labour were wasting money on schemes which cold be used to fund more officers.
Axing ID cards, a scheme the coalition government have since scrapped, would "put 3,000 more police officers on the streets" Clegg said during the first TV debate.
"That is the absolute priority for me," he said.
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'Ruthless in cutting out waste'
During her key note speech May went over the coalition government's plans to cut red tape, including a new pledge to scrap the 10-point policing pledge, shake-up accountability and restore responsibility to the frontline.
The home secretary warned the ACPO that national policing would not escape from the government's plans to cut Britain's budget deficit.
"The public finances are in the biggest mess that any of us have seen in our lifetimes," Theresa May said.
"The cuts will be big, they will be tough to achieve, and cuts will fall on the police as they will on other important public services."
May said she would be "ruthless in cutting out waste" in the Home Office while improving efficiency and ensuring police officers remain a visible presence on Britain's streets.
"Targets don’t fight crime; targets hinder the fight against crime," May said while saying the policing pledge, launched under Labour, would be scrapped with immediate effect.
FactCheck investigates
- Police on the beat 80 per cent of the time?
- Does more police equal less crime?
The policing pledge included a target, repeated by Gordon Brown during the general election campaign, that officers had to spend "80 per cent of their time" visibly working in neighbourhoods. A report into the 10-point pledge by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), later found that the target was not being met with only 14 out of the 43 forces in England scoring a "good" rating for the objective.
May said today that scraping the plan would help to end bureaucracy and improve policing.
"I couldn’t be any clearer about your mission: it isn’t a thirty-point plan; it is to cut crime," she said.
There is to be a review of the pay and conditions of all police officers in England and Wales with the conclusions published in the next few weeks. A drastic cut to police overtime is expected, which currently costs forces £500m a year.
Any cuts to pay or overtime will take effect from September next year when a three-year pay deal expires.
Downing Street said the police would have to bear a "fair share" of the spending cuts. "We want to do everything we can to keep police officers on the streets, but the priority is cutting the deficit. The police will have to bear a fair share of the burden," a spokeswoman said.
