Police spending in England and Wales 'to fall by £500m'

Police forces in England and Wales are to be told to make annual savings of more than £500m by 2014.

The details are in a White Paper on policing to be published later.

The Home Office document will also say officers should patrol the streets alone, rather than in pairs, to make them more accessible to the public.

However, chief officers are warning against plans to save £70m by cutting overtime, which they say is vital to "front-line" policing.

Meanwhile, the Home Office is expected to accept calls in a report on cutting bureaucracy, by former Police Federation chief Jan Berry, for forces to be given more discretion over the way they deal with less serious crime.

A pilot scheme in Surrey, Leicestershire, West Midlands and Staffordshire saw government targets abandoned in favour of a "common sense" approach.

For example, rather than arresting youngsters for vandalism or scrawling graffiti, officers would warn the youngsters and ask parents to pay for the damage.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says the government has invested record amounts in policing over the past decade but with public finances under severe strain, ministers now expect forces to make significant savings.

It is understood the White Paper will say that by 2014 police could save £545m a year, about 5% of its government grant.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said forces could save by working together to buy computer systems and day-to-day equipment, rather than ordering them separately.

"Police forces are collaborating to find ways to jointly procure - whether that's on uniforms, whether that's on cars, whether that's on air-support services," he said.

"There are always opportunities to do more."

About £400m was spent on extra policing hours last year but President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Hugh Orde, warned against too many cuts.

"Only sergeants and constables are paid overtime. Where the need is, is at the front line so I think we need to be careful about salami-slicing the budget," he said.

"We need to give chief officers the freedom to spend their money wisely, to focus on the front-end of policing, and overtime is a vital part of that."

'Hard trick'

Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said he understood the financial pressures on the government.

However, he said it would be a "hard trick to pull off" to ensure cuts did not impinge on front-line services.

"The public expects officers to be there when needed and sometimes that means overtime is going to have to be paid."

Mr McKeever said more centralised procurement could stop "an awful lot" of money being "wasted" by individual forces and that some force mergers were "inevitable".

Other proposals include encouraging single patrolling to maximise visibility and engagement with the public, although the federation says that already happens routinely in many areas.

Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the reforms did not go far enough and that a royal commission - a non-party political inquiry - should examine the issue.

"[The White Paper] talks about cutting overtime. It doesn't talk about restructuring the police service... restructuring the workforce," he said.


Source: bbc.co.uk/