The Chair of Cleveland Police Authority has pledged that ‘we will do everything that is humanly possible’ to protect front-line services despite today’s announcement from Chancellor George Osborne that police spending is to be cut by 4 per cent a year for the next four years.
Councillor Dave McLuckie said that, whilst the full impact of the spending cuts could not be assessed until details of police grants were announced later in the year, it was clear that the Authority and Force would have to finding savings running into many millions of pounds, starting from next April.
Said the Police Authority Chair “It would be foolish to pretend that it is possible to make cuts on this scale without real pain. The Chancellor says they can be achieved without any impact on the availability or visibility of front-line policing...whether that is true remains to be seen and what will really matter are the actual hard figures on the grant allocations to ourselves and all other authorities and forces, information which we are unlikely to know until early December.
“I think it is important to underline that having to make savings is nothing new in the police service—in Cleveland over recent years we have delivered very significant savings and efficiency improvements at the same time as becoming one of the most successful forces in the country in reducing crime and generating public confidence.
“But a continued programme of cuts on this scale and over such a long period is something entirely different. Whatever our views on the wisdom or otherwise of what has been announced today, the challenge for the Authority, together with the Chief Constable and his team, is to do everything possible to ensure that the tremendous progress we have made in recent years is not lost and that we continue to make progress—and that means looking at every possible means of protecting front-line policing on our streets and in our neighbourhoods.
“At this stage I cannot give a cast-iron guarantee that it will be possible—what I can say is that we will do everything that is humanly possible to protect the people and the communities we serve.
“We have already taken an important step to face up to the challenge through the partnership we have established with Steria for delivering support services—the first of its kind in the country—which will deliver significant savings to help us facing up to the challenges ahead.
“Nevertheless the coming months and years will be very tough.”
Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Sean Price said: “The outcome of the spending review obviously means we have to reduce costs.
“The Force and the Authority have taken steps over many years to ensure that we are as efficient as possible and we are looking at a range of options to address the budget pressures.
“The partnership with the private company Steria went live on 1st October, which has enabled us to protect people’s jobs and the service we deliver to members of the public, as well as make financial savings.
“Our focus as we continue through this difficult climate will remain on front-line policing and delivering a first class service to our communities as well as further reducing crime.”