The Chief Constable of Lincolnshire has said he will need to lose more than 400 officers without extra funding.
Paul Gibson’s warning comes days after his counterparts in the Metropolitan Police and Essex said they would also have to cut staff if shortfalls in their budgets are not addressed.
Mr Gibson told the BBC that funding has not matched population growth and to maintain existing levels of operations, Lincolnshire Police would require an extra £57 million over the next three-and-a-half years.
The bottom line is we can't police on a shoestring.
“I would need to be taking maybe more than 400 police officers and police staff out of the organisation,” he said, adding that the force’s 60 neighbourhood officers could be at risk.
“At what point does a police force lose its viability? We’ve got very good people who do good things with the resources they have at their disposal and I’m hugely supportive of that.
“The bottom line is we can’t police on a shoestring.”
Among pledges announced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week was a guaranteed every neighbourhood will have a named, contactable police officer responsible for dealing with local issues.
Labour had already pledged to put in place 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables by the time of the next election, which would bring the total police workforce to a level above its 2010 peak.
An additional £100 million next year would pay for the recruitment of around 1,200 police officers, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.
But since Sir Keir’s announcement last week, Ben-Julian Harrington, Chief Constable of Essex Police, said his budget gap for next year is about £34 million and that he had written to the Home Secretary to raise concerns about the financial position.
He said around £27 million of the £34 million budget shortfall was pay, but cited heating, lighting, fuel and buildings as costs.
“The bottom line is… we’ve squeezed the lemon and it’s pretty dry so there’s not many more efficiencies to have around this,” he said, warning there could be a “reduction of about 200 officers
In a report submitted to the London Policing Board, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the forces faces a £450 million budget shortfall in 2025/26, meaning that 2,300 officers and 400 staff could have to be cut.
The Met is able to make £100 million in savings, but the Commissioner’s report said: “The financial constraints we face in 2025/26 mean we will be forced to take tough choices to reduce the service we offer Londoners.”
