£30m cuts ‘put 200 police jobs at risk

From the archive, first published Saturday 9th Dec 2006.

It is feared that up to 200 full-time police officer jobs will be axed across West Yorkshire as a result of the loss of nearly £30 million Government grant funding over the next two years.

West Yorkshire Police Authority is now examining ways to balance its budget, with the likelihood that some roles performed by police officers will have to be handed over to civilian staff, who are cheaper to employ.

Meanwhile, the leader of Bradford Council fears the Government's decision not to press ahead with plans to put 24,000 Police Community Support Officers on Britain's streets will mean 60 or 70 fewer PCSOs than anticipated in the Bradford district.

The West Yorkshire force is set to lose nearly £14.8m in 2006/07 and £15.1m the next financial year through the operation of the controversial floor damping' system in the new provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.

The flat-rate increase system applied by the Government changes the level of grant funding per head of population in West Yorkshire from the third lowest in Metropolitan areas to the very lowest.

Bradford Councillor Clive Richardson, vice-chairman of the police authority, said the settlement would have a detrimental effect on the force and added that more civilian police workers would have to be employed in jobs carried out by police officers.

He said: "A high number of police officers will be lost, although we have not worked out exactly how many yet. The force has looked at every job the 5,700 police officers are doing to work out how many can be civilianised. The details of that are still confidential."

But he added that if the budget shortfall amounted to a few million, the force could be looking at the loss of between 100 and 150 officers' jobs.

He said jobs which could be carried out by civilian workers would be some of those in the cells, answering emergency calls and in the training department.

Coun Richardson said this approach would mean no officers were lost from the "front line". He said police officer losses would be brought about through natural wastage, with some officers who retire or transfer not being replaced.

The police authority has the option of increasing the precept for council tax payers in an attempt to reduce the budget shortfall, but increases of more than five per cent are subject to the threat of capping' from the Government.

Tom McGhie, chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, said: "It's a hole in the budget and it's going to be difficult to find savings that are not related to personnel. Police officer numbers will decline and I fear we could lose as many as 200. It's concerning that police authorities are tending to use PCSOs in more and more confrontational situations."

The police authority yesterday agreed a strongly-worded response to the provisional government finance settlement during its meeting at County Hall, Wakefield.

The police authority's letter will say: "We must question whether it is the intention of the Home Office to disadvantage the population of one area to such a degree in order to perpetuate apparent relative overfunding in other areas."

And the Government's decision to reduce the promised level of funding for community policing has been condemned as "irresponsible, short-sighted and underhand" by Bradford Council's leader Kris Hopkins.

Last week it emerged in a written Commons statement the Government was to turn its back on a manifesto commitment to fund 16,000 police community safety officers by next April and a further 8,000 the following year. Funding for the second stage will not now be forthcoming.

Councillor Hopkins said: "Instead of the Government providing £105m for PCSOs across the country, it will now be releasing just £35m and £20m of that has already been earmarked for London. For Bradford district, that is likely to lead to somewhere in the region of 60-70 fewer PCSOs patrolling our streets than we had originally planned for."

e-mail: will.kilner

@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

Community officers get their awards

Police officers have been recognised for their outstanding commitment to the people they serve in the district.

The second Bradford Minorities Police Liaison Committee (MPLC) Awards toasted hard-working officers who have made a major impact across the district in building safer communities.

Chairman of the committee Manny Imran said: "The MPLC is very pleased to reward these officers who have positively served the people of Bradford and District. These awards demonstrate their excellent work."

Recently retired Chief Superintendent Phil Read was awarded for his outstanding contribution to people across the district.

Police Community Support Officers Khalil Alam, based in Manningham; Steve Armitage, who works in Girlington; Lee Johnson, who works in Lower Grange; Ian Townson, based in Bradford Moor and Thornbury area and Sam Sagar, who covers Frizinghall, received awards.

PC Mark Plovie, who has served the city centre area of the city for 28 years and PC Paul Wharton, who works in the Neighbourhood Policing Team which covers the Keighley Central ward were also rewarded for their efforts.

Community Race Relations Inspector for the Bradford District Mark Leighton said: "I thank the MPLC for making these awards as it recognises the commitment being made by Neighbourhood Policing Officers across the district to the communities of Bradford.

"The aim of the committee is to promote better understanding between the police service, the Minority Ethnic Communities and between all groups. I hope these awards demonstrate the commitment of everyone involved."

West Yorkshire Police Deputy Chief Constable John Sampson and the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Choudhary Rangzeb, presented the gongs to officers at a ceremony at City Hall on Thursday.