Cuts to police affecting frontline services

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath argues that, by cutting police funding, the coalition government is making it "harder, not easier" to cut crime.

In making draconian cuts to police funding, the government has repeatedly claimed that frontline services will be unaffected.

The reality is proving to be anything but. Sixteen thousand police officers are being cut, with some of our most experienced officers forced out of their jobs. Many of the back office cuts are having a direct impact on the services the government vowed to protect.

Nowhere is this more visible than the planned closure of hundreds of police stations. A recent study in the Sunday Times revealed that across 30 of the 43 constabularies in England and Wales, 350 out of 931 public counters at stations will be closed in the next six months.

The study also showed that where stations remained open to the public, their hours will be reduced. A staggering 26 out of 43 forces will have no round-the-clock stations. In their place, unless it is an emergency, the public will have to rely on call centres using the 101 number, or email.

Inevitably, the public will lose accessibility and face-to-face contact with the police. This is hardly consistent with the government’s stated objective of keeping more police on the streets. It is bound to worry the public that they can no longer rely on turning up at a police station to talk direct to a police officer.

There are plenty of other examples, too, of the police forced into bizarre decisions to try to make ends meet. It has recently been reported that Staffordshire Police have been advised to cut costs by making fewer arrests and attending fewer incidents.

Little wonder the Police Federation worries that closing police stations is a signal to criminals that the police are in retreat.

Labour's record in government saw crime falling through being tough on crime and the causes of crime. This government is taking risks with crime levels by reducing expenditure too far and too fast.

Combined with cutting back on the use of DNA and CCTV, the closure of police stations is the clearest signal possible that the Tory-led government is making it harder, not easier, to cut crime.

Raised to the peerage as Baron Hunt of Kings Heath in 1997, Philip Hunt is currently Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords.

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