£10m cuts will hurt

11:12am Friday 5th October 2007

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A STARK message about North Yorkshire's ability to fight crime in the face of multi-million pound Government cuts has today been issued by Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell as he exclusively writes in The Press.

He has teamed up with the newspaper after we launched our Fund Our Force campaign in the wake of fears the Home Office plans to slash £10 million from the annual budget - a figure equivalent to 300 serving officers.

In his warning Mr Maxwell said: "A £10 million cut in our budget will severely impact on our ability to deliver excellent community policing and to continually drive down crime."

His words come as The Press can reveal the cost to maintain a full police service in North Yorkshire if the Government went ahead with its £10 million cut would be an extra £35 on council tax for each household...

Chief Constable outlines difficulties force will face if proposals go through

North Yorkshire is the safest county in England.

Over the last three years, we have witnessed a 22.4 per cent reduction in crime in our county.

This is due to many factors, but key to this achievement has been the continued investment in recent years which has allowed us to put more police officers on the streets of our neighbourhoods.

Shortly after I took up the post of Chief Constable in May this year, I announced that we would be facing a £5 million shortfall in our budget for 2008.

Since May, I have been working with my colleagues at North Yorkshire Police to effectively manage this shortfall.

Our priority has been to ensure that the budget cut impacts as little as possible on our core frontline policing duties.

When viewed in the light of this current budget shortfall, the Government's latest proposals to cut our funding further are deeply concerning. Based on the Government's new funding proposals, we have calculated that we could see up to an extra £10 million cut from our budget, which is equivalent to the salaries of 300 Police Officers.

As Chief Constable of North Yorkshire and the City of York, I have committed the Force to providing excellent community policing through the delivery of Safer Neighbourhoods.

This means ensuring sufficient police officers are in our communities to deliver the services you need. However, this cannot be achieved without continuous investment in our police service.

A further £10 million cut in our budget will severely impact on our ability to deliver excellent community policing and to continually drive down crime.

I am grateful for the support we have already received from MPs, partners, The Press in York, and the community in fighting these measures and I would like to assure you that we will be working closely with the North Yorkshire Police Authority to consult with the Government on their proposed changes.