We can’t afford bobbies on the beat, claims the police chief paid £250,000 a year

TWO police chiefs who each earn more than the Prime Minister have indicated that routine patrols by bobbies on the beat will end because of Government cuts.

Sara Thornton, the £252,000-a-year chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said the patrols did not prevent crime or make people feel safer.

And she warned that in future they would not be sent to low-crime areas.

Craig Mackey, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said in some cases crime victims would no longer see a police officer, but would get a telephone call instead.

The news comes ahead of next month’s Government spending review, in which the police budget is expected to be cut by up to 40 per cent as part of austerity measures.

Home Secretary Theresa May has accused the police of ‘crying wolf’ about the impact of the cuts, and insists savings can be made without affecting the quality of neighbourhood policing.

She has said she does not accept that there is no more waste to cut, pointing out that the public money police bosses in England and Wales have in reserve has risen by almost £250million to £1.85billion. Miss Thornton, who caused outrage in August by claiming that burglary victims should help the police save time by emailing evidence to spare officers from having to attend crime scenes, hinted at the end of the traditional beat bobby on BBC2’s Newsnight programme.

She said: ‘ It’s a difficult one because it’s one of those features of policing that the public have come to like and respect over many, many years. But the evidence would say a random police patrol doesn’t prevent crime, doesn’t solve crime, it doesn’t make people feel safer.’

Asked directly whether the days of routine patrols were over, she said while officers would always respond to incidents where people were in difficulty, patrols would not be focused on areas with low crime rates in future.

She raised eyebrows this year by accepting a £252,000 pay package to be the first head of the NPCC – almost twice as much as David Cameron’s salary of £142,500.

Sir Hugh Orde, the last boss of its forerunner – the Association of Chief Police Officers – froze his sal- ary at £197,439 to save money. Miss Thornton’s stance was backed by Mr Mackey on Newsnight. Mr Mackey, who earns £219,000, said the public would have to get used to a different approach in the way police investigated crime. He added: ‘We are driving out costs everywhere we can but... it will be challenging. Some of the services you previously got face to face you won’t get in the future.’ He said the nature of crime was changing, with a huge rise in cybercrime and fraud that needed ‘completely different models of working’. Police Minister Mike Penning said forces had enough resources and pointed out that crime had fallen by more than a quarter since 2010. According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, burglary has plummeted by 15 per cent, violent crime by 23 per cent and vehi- cle crime by 40 per cent. ‘Over the last five years, frontline services have been protected, public confidence in the police has gone up and crime has fallen to its lowest ever level,’ he said.

‘The changes made since 2010 have made it easier for the police to do their job by cutting red tape, scrapping unnecessary targets, and giving officers the discretion to use their professional judgment.’