How Police Cuts Will Affect Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire Police have posted a video explaining how the recent budget cutbacks will affect policing in our county. It's over 7 minutes long, but if you can get past the unconvincingly cheerful tone it makes some important announcements.



These are some of the key points made in the video:

• For 2011/12 they need to save £6.7 million out of the £120 million budget for the previous year.
  
  
• 70 police officers will go this year, leaving around 1130 officers to police the county. 90 support staff will also lose their jobs.
  
  
• In order to cut senior police and support staff posts and make efficiency savings the three divisional boundaries will change. Instead of divisions policed from Grantham, Lincoln and Skegness, Lincolnshire will all be one single operational area.
  
  
• The force want to recruit at least another 50 special constables to add to the force of around 200 there already are.
  
  

The video raises some questions it doesn't fully answer. For instance, how will police morale and recruitment be affected by these job losses and the increased burden on the remaining officers?

Of course we'll never know the true effect these cuts will have on crime rates until after the event. Let's hope Chief Constable Richard Crompton's confidence in his plans is justified.