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By Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - 6th December 2010
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath claims the coalition's cuts to police budgets are "draconian."
The impact of the draconian government cuts in police budgets is being experienced by police forces up and down the country, with core funding being reduced by 20 per cent in real terms over the next four years.
Although the government seems to think that these can take place without affecting frontline services, the reality is that thousands of cuts are to be made in police and police support officer numbers.
Already in the West Midlands, a recruitment freeze has started and the chief constable has estimated that the force could ultimately lose 2,000 jobs. In Greater Manchester, around 1,400 officers will be lost and almost every force in the country has frozen recruitment as they reel under the speed and scale of the government's funding cuts.
One of the most worrying signs is the number of forces who, having been put into an impossible position by the government, are considering using a legal loophole to forcibly retire experienced officers with 30 years' service. Well over 3,200 officers have served for over 30 years, and we can ill afford to lose their experience.
The simplistic notion that frontline services are good and all other activities are bad is being exposed. Some of these experienced officers work in specialist units dealing with fraud, IT crime, organised crime and child protection. There is a real risk of these being the first to be cut.
Ironically, the government is not hesitating to spend millions of pounds setting up elected police commissioners, with a real risk of the politicisation of our police forces.
The recent British Crime Survey showed a fall in crime of four per cent, and of recorded crime by eight per cent in the year ending June 2010. The government is putting at serious risk the progress made by the last Labour government, and the forced retirement of dedicated police officers is an ominous sign.
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