HUMBERSIDE Police could have to save up to £30m over the next five years.
Police and crime commissioner Matthew Grove has said new Government funding cuts mean the force will have to cut between £25m and £30m before 2018.
That is on top on £31.9m savings that need to be made between 2011 and 2015 - £3.4m of which have yet to be identified.
Mr Grove said: "For the future, in common with all public services, the latest government announcements indicate that we can now expect a significant financial challenge due to less funds been available to work with.
"While there is a great deal of uncertainty about the detail of the funding that we will receive, it is clear based on our early projections we will have to find new ways of working on the delivery of services, together with partners."
A report published today says Humberside Police faces a "difficult challenge" to save more money.
The report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) says the force has already reduced its size and costs to a "great extent".
Figures also released today show Humberside Police cut 60 officers in six months. It now has fewer officers than at any time in its history.
HMIC inspector for the north, Roger Baker, said: "While the savings requirement is smaller than for other forces, Humberside Police still faces a difficult challenge. The amount of money it receives is lower than in most other forces and its costs are already low.
"While we have seen some innovation in Humberside's approach, the force hasn't embraced the level of change or achieved the savings seen elsewhere, and the force still has relatively high crime rates compared to other forces' areas."
Figures released this morning show Humberside still has one of the highest crime rates in the country. It is 39th out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales in the national league tables.
However, crime across the force area fell by 11 per cent last year.
Deputy Chief Constable David Griffin said: "As a force, our officers and staff continue to work extremely hard to protect our communities and reduce crime and disorder in spite of budget cuts that have seen reductions in resources.
"The latest figures are pleasing and hopefully will be reassuring to the people of Humberside. However, there are still big challenges ahead and while I have no doubt our team will take these challenges on with the vigour and enthusiasm they continue to demonstrate, tackling crime and disorder and indeed the prevention of it is becoming a more formidable task than ever."
↧