TAVISTOCK and the surrounding parishes will become much more vulnerable if the proposed cuts to the Devon and Cornwall Police force are imposed, according to the leader of West Devon Borough Council.
Policing in the area looks likely to take a massive hit as Devon and Cornwall Police announced it may have to axe over 700 officer posts and the force’s entire contingent of police community support officers (PCSOs).
The force held its latest Police and Crime Panel meeting on Friday. At the meeting, chief constable Shaun Sawyer outlined Devon and Cornwall Police’s response to the potential impact of planned budget cuts in the coming years.
Changes to the police funding formula used by the Government and estimates over the likely impact of the comprehensive spending review (CSR) means the force will have to make £54-million of savings by 2020.
Devon and Cornwall Police is planning to lose a total of 1,300 staff by 2020 — 760 of these will be police officers. To meet the target, the force is also looking at the complete removal of the 360 PCSO posts and a further 180 jobs to be found from elsewhere in the organisation.
Chief constable Shaun Sawyer said: ‘It is clear that any cut of this magnitude would have a significant impact on the service we are able to provide to the public. We have clear statutory obligations around areas such as safeguarding, the National Strategic Policing Requirement and the Civil Contingencies Act for floods, disasters and other such events. We are therefore considering which other services we can continue to provide, outside of those core services.
‘Despite making plans for significant non-staff cuts, over 80 percent of our budget is allocated as staff costs. Over the course of the last comprehensive spending review we shrank our budget by £58-million; £20-million of which came from non staff costs, which means that a small pot is already significantly smaller than it was.’
The announcement came a fortnight after the force announced plans to close police stations offices across the two counties in the next five years.
The station closures were announced after the force strived to take £29-million from its current budget, but revised figures showed the force needed to save closer to £54-million, hence the plans for extensive staffing cuts.
The chief constable added: ‘It is not lost on me that every single one of these “posts” is occupied by hard working, dedicated colleagues who strive to serve the public and provide essential policing services which keep the public safe.
‘Overall this would mean that the workforce would have shrunk from 6,200 posts in 2010 to around 3,900 by 2019/2020.
‘Clearly all of these figures are based solely on what we know currently about the potential cuts. We do not yet know the grant figures from the Home Office with whom we are continuing to work closely. All we do know is that we must plan now and revise our plans as the finances become clearer.’
West Devon Borough Council leader Phillip Sanders said: ‘Obviously it is very regrettable if the police find it necessary to make any cuts particularly in the borough.
‘We do realise that they need to make savings to meet budget cuts but we hope that they wouldn’t remove the facilities in the local areas. A loss of police presence would make villages, towns, houses and local moorland very vulnerable.’
Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg is one of six threatening the Home Office with legal action over the changes to police funding. The six commissioners will seek a judicial review unless the changes are halted.
Mr Hogg told the House of Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) why the Government’s proposed police funding formula was unfair and particularly disadvan-tageous to Devon and Cornwall. He said he was pleased to be able to continue the debate at the very highest level.
Mr Hogg said: ‘The public will know that I have already campaigned long and hard on their behalf over this issue and the stakes are extremely high.
‘The chief constable has told us what the impact of these massive cuts will be in terms of front line capability, and I am absolutely determined to do everything that I can to help mitigate the disastrous effect that I believe they will have on our communities in Devon and Cornwall.’
Mr Hogg is currently preparing to launch a public consultation across Devon and Cornwall to gauge the public’s willingness to pay more through their council tax police precept to protect some of police services that will be lost if the cuts take full effect.
l What are your thoughts on the intended police staffing cuts? Could it have a damaging effect on the Tavistock area? Write us an e-mail at [email protected] or send a letter to Tavistock Times, 14 Brook Street, Tavistock, PL19 0HD.
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