THINNING BLUE LINE SPARKS RISING CRIME ALERT

Police budget savings plan could result in 1,000 less officers

ROCHDALE’S MP Simon Danczuk is worried about a rise in crime in the borough if the police’s thin blue line gets any thinner.

Mr Danczuk said: “We can’t keep losing valuable frontline officers and not expect crime to increase.”

And he went on: “The Home Secretary has to answer why she’s let the thin blue line get continually thinner while wasting millions on police and crime commissioners that have proven to be completely ineffective.”

It follows an email that was sent to Rochdale’s acting chief executive Linda Fisher’s office from Greater Manchester Police chief constable Sir Peter Fahy.

It warned that a programme to deal with staff reductions was to be presented to police and crime commissioner Tony Lloyd.

The plan revolves around a force of only GMP 6,000 police officers - 1,000 fewer than this time last year - “to achieve budget savings”.

ROCHDALE MP Simon Danczuk has warned of an increase in crime if the thin blue line is allowed to get thinner.

By 2017 Greater Manchester Police will be operating with just 6,000 police officers - 1,000 fewer than this time last year - to meet government imposed budget cuts.

The force is currently losing five police officers each week as retiring or departing bobbies are not replaced.

And Mr Danczuk, who earlier this year launched a ferocious attack on GMP Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy’s ‘liberal’ handling of the Rochdale grooming scandal, fears the loss of officers will leave remaining police over-stretched.

He said: “We can’t keep losing valuable frontline officers and not expect crime to increase.

“Police officers are under enough pressure as it is at the moment and they are telling me that often they go without eating all day because the shifts are so busy and the force is over-stretched.

“The Home Secretary has to answer why she’s let the thin blue line get continually thinner while wasting millions on police and crime commissioners that have proven to be completely ineffective.”

Mr Lloyd said the cuts were ‘ putting communities at risk’. He added: “The reality is there are 1,500 fewer officers on our streets compared to 2010. This is putting our communities at risk and crime is now on the rise for the first time in 20 years.

“Fewer officers mean police are having to prioritise where dwindling resources are allocated. This is not what the public wants or deserves – they should have a police service that responds when they need them.

“I have repeatedly warned the government about the dangers of these budget cuts, but they are simply not listening. So I say again: if the cuts continue beyond 2017, Greater Manchester Police will not be able to maintain its service to the public. There simply won’t be enough money left.”

Since April 134 officers have left, amounting to a £2m saving in wages,

In 2013 the force lost a further 254 officers as the force struggles to meet government enforced budget cuts of £134m by 2015.

The reduced force will be expected to protect a Rochdale-wide population of more than 200,000 - 2.55 million across Greater Manchester.

In an email sent to council chief executives across Greater Manchester, which has been seen by the Observer, Sir Peter said that he would be presenting proposals to Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd to ensure ‘the service to the public does not suffer unreasonably’.

He wrote: “We try and ensure that this reduction is carried evenly across the force and we have a range of projects to bring about changes in working practises so that the service to the public does not suffer unreasonably. “That said the pattern of officers retiring or deciding to leave the force is not even and at times we have to rebalance staffing when the loss is disproportionate.”

A GMP spokesperson said extra staff - but not officers - were being recruited to help officers ‘spend more of their time on the frontline’. They added: “The force has a well-established change programme to meet the challenges caused by the budget cuts.

“This is ensuring that we are changing the way that we work, so we can manage with fewer officers. Over the last two years we have brought in extra police staff roles so that officers can spend more of their time on the frontline, and increasingly we are working with other forces and local agencies to share costs and improve the way we deliver services together. GMP has produced plans until 2017/18 which covers the period where the amount of funding provided by central government is known.

“These plans show that for GMP to achieve the budget savings, the force will be required to operate with around 6,000 police officers. This will be achieved by officers leaving the force through retirement. The force’s change programme is currently working to deliver changes which will enable the force to operate with this number of police officers.”