Police chief warns cuts will hit efforts to keep crime down

Published on Thursday 15 July 2010 15:38

ONE of the country's most senior police officers has warned it will be difficult for her force to maintain low crime levels in the face of swingeing cuts.

Norma Graham, chief constable of Fife, has achieved record success by diverting as many officers as possible to the frontline to work with communities.

Figures out today show the area has benefited from its lowest levels of violent crime in a decade and record drug hauls.

Crime fell by 12.3 per cent, from 24,090 in 2008-9 to 21,120 last year.

Violence, dishonesty and vandalism all fell, with sexual crimes the only one to increase, but this was met by an even greater improvement in detection. Officers also seized 3.5m worth of drugs, a record for Fife Constabulary.

Ms Graham said: "I think overall it is down to the culture we've adopted over the last 18 months, taking policing closer to the streets.

"We have also let the views of local people shape policing - rather than the professionals dictating, let the community speak. And we've also been able to give them the resources to back that up."

However, it is cuts in those resources which are threatening the good work done by Fife and other Scottish police forces.

The Scottish Government is faced with trying to maintain the 1,000 extra police officers it put on the streets as part of a manifesto pledge.

The funding for those extra officers runs out in April, meanwhile police forces are facing funding cuts of up to 25 per cent over four years following Chancellor George Osborne's emergency Budget last month.

Ms Graham has already started to divert desk officers onto the street to maintain the high levels of police in the community, even though the full impact of the cuts is yet to be felt.

She said: "These are tough times. There are no more police officers to be had, we've had more than we've ever had. There are hard decisions to be taken on how we move forward. The focus we have is on taking the police closer to the community, but it will be tough.

"We have not put a freeze on recruitment, we will have to keep an eye on that. If the organisation has to shrink, and at some stage it may, then it will be difficult to maintain these high levels."

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) is currently taking the lead on remodelling the eight Scottish police forces. This could involve sharing some services, either with neighbouring forces or other public bodies, or the creation of a single Scottish force.

Acpos members have been told that, in 2011, they may have to make savings of up to 12 per cent, which would mean the loss of 1,600 staff and, because police cannot be made redundant, that it would simply not be possible through natural wastage.

Assistant Chief Constable Cliff Anderson, general secretary of Acpos, said: "Across Scotland, chief constables have begun examining where savings can be made in their own forces. Our priority will always be our communities and the steps we are taking nationally and locally are to make sure that across the service, we are operating in the most efficient and effective manner."