Police jobs facing the axe

NEW police chief John Dwyer has announced his proposed budget which will result in the loss of 37 front line officers across Cheshire along with 35 backroom staff.
He is proposing a minimum increase in the budget of just 2 per cent,which averages out at 6p per houshold for a Band D property.
Meanwhile his Labour challenger at the elections John Stockton, is urging him not to weild the axe on frontline services by increasing the police part of council tax by a “few more pennies”to safeguard jobs.
The Police & Crime Commissioner for Cheshire has set out the proposals within his first budget which, alongside the Police and Crime Plan, sets out how resources will be allocated to the Constabulary to deliver the best possible policing to the public of Cheshire.
Mr Dwyer (pictured right) said, “This has not been an easy task to accomplish in just 10 weeks in office but I am confident that I am proposing a budget that will minimise the impact of the reduced Government funding for policing.”
The financial challenge for this year means that £8.3million savings must be found to balance the budget. This the third consecutive year the budget has been prepared with real term reductions in Government funding.
In order to close the funding gap, the Commissioner proposes to increase the police element of Council tax by 1.99%, which is an increase of 6p per week for a Band D home. This proposal comes following consultation with Cheshire residents in surveys over the last couple of weeks, 80% of whom said they would be prepared to pay
the increase in order to safeguard some police officer posts.
Mr Dwyer added, “I was overwhelmed by the support shown by the people I spoke to who said that they did not think that cuts should be applied to policing.
Unfortunately, these are difficult times for all public sector services and savings must be found. I am determined though, that cuts will not come from the front line.
I intend to decline the Government’s council tax freeze grant of 1% as it is only builds in further cuts of £1.2m.
Following a managed process of the reduction of 37 officers through retirement and leavers, the budget will allow for the recruitment of 21 new recruits next year, this will
mean that we do not face a problem further down the line when we have no young in service officers coming up through the ranks. Unfortunately, there will also be a loss of 35 police staff posts.”
After certain grants have been transferred to the Commissioner’s budget, such as PCSO funding, the total gross budget would be £205 million compared to £207 million last year.
The budget identifies savings in many areas and also makes changes to the way in which some funding is allocated to allow investment to be made in areas such as increasing the Special Constabulary. John Dwyer said, “I made it clear in my pre-election campaign that I would not cut the front line and that Special Constables would be
recruited to bolster numbers of neighbourhood officers. I will also be asking the Constabulary to look to increase the number of volunteers and cadets to provide opportunities for the public to give something back to their police service. These volunteers will not replace regular officers in our communities but will go some way to
providing a visible and responsive service, something which the public has asked for.”

“The budget is key to delivering my Police and Crime Plan which is centred on further reducing crime and maximising value-for-money savings. The Plan identifies my key priorities, which 96% of the people questioned agreed with. These include developing improved ways to protect vulnerable people, dealing with antisocial behaviour,
tackling re-offending, policing the roads and addressing rural crime.”
I also intend to launch a Crime Prevention Fund of £100,000 to deliver additional crime prevention initiatives in the community.”
As required by law, the Commissioner will notify the Police & Crime Panel of the proposed council tax precept on 1 February 2013 and must issue the precept by 1 March 2013.
Meanwhile Mr Dwyer’s Labour challenger at the Police Commissioner elections, John Stockton, has urged him not to make any front line cuts.
Mr Stockton (pictured left) said: “I read with interest the claims that Mr Dwyer has been forced to axe police jobs.
“This is not, of course, the case. Mr Dwyer has chosen to raise the police precept (police budget) by only 2%, which will lead to the loss of front line police with back office staff also losing their jobs. Whilst I am pleased that he has not chosen to go down the road of this government’s suggested budget freeze and accept a 1% inducement to
do so, as this would lead to a further funding gap in the future, I would like to suggest that he goes a little further and increase it by slightly more, a matter of only a few pennies a week, to, say 3%, to further protect our front line police and the valuable back office staff who do such an important job in keeping us all safe.
“There is a danger that these cuts will further undermine Cheshire Police force’s capacity to do their job effectively and keep us all safe. In view of the Chancellor’s statement (i.e. autumn budget) the government’s future austerity programme, there is a real danger that this is just the start of many more cuts to Cheshire Police service to come. Whilst I realise that some people may say that we should keep budget rises to the minimum, and in the main I agree, I wonder however, in this case, if this is this too low a price to pay for all our personal safety? I urge Mr Dwyer to reconsider.”