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Police lose 50 officers in £22m cutbacks

The number of full-time police officers in Staffordshire will drop by nearly 50 over the next year as the force faces £22.9 million budget cuts, it has been revealed.

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There will be 48 fewer officers in 2015/16 but 18 extra police community support officers.

Police and crime commissioner Matthew Ellis has vowed that no frontline officers would be lost when the force makes savings.

He said some officers have been replaced by civilian staff to carry out back office roles that require fewer powers and has revealed the number of neighbourhood police officers will rise from 434 to 440.

Spokesman Peter Bate said: "The public will not notice a reduction in the number of frontline officers as we are investing in neighbourhood officers."

Mr Bate said reasons for the drop in the number of officers included retirement and officers' roles being changed.

Staff without 'warranted powers' have replaced some police officers - known as 'civilianisation', he said.

It comes as West Midlands Police looks to take on 450 officers by 2016/17.

In Staffordshire in the current financial year there are 1,788 officers, which will drop to 1,740 next year. But the number of PCSOs will go up from 221 to 239, and general staff will go down from 1,221 to 1,201.

The total number of staff, including officers, will decrease from 3,230 to 3,181.

Mr Ellis is looking to save £4 million through a review of buildings, £3.2m in a shake-up of investigative services and £600,000 by a restructuring of senior management.

He has also revealed that the force's share of council tax will be frozen.

The £22.8m gap has been created by an expected fall in the Staffordshire force's Home Office grant.

In his budget report, Mr Ellis says: "Expenditure budgets have been reduced in line with this, but with good financial management tighter control of budgets, service delivery is being maintained and will improve over the coming months. Overall reported crime is down, although online crime is a growing challenge which will see increased focus this year."

One of his priorities is replacing outdated technology which he claimed is costing the force millions of pounds a year.

New equipment would free up between 3,000 – 5,000 police hours every week, the equivalent of 18 per cent more police officers, he says.

Mr Ellis said: "I'm confident there will be more frontline policing time in Staffordshire by the end of next year than there has been at any time in the last decade - even at the height of policing - for 25 per cent less of the cost. That's a monumental change."

The commissioner has provided a five-year financial plan instead of the more usual two or three-year forecast 'to start making progress early.'

He vowed any spare money would go towards on bolstering front line policing.

The budget report adds: "It is very likely that there will be further requirements to deliver savings annually, and the PCC has committed to working with police and others in the public service system with a transformational approach to deliver these whilst maintaining support for front line policing."

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