FRONTLINE police staff in Lancashire are facing greater cuts than most other forces across the country, Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner has warned.

Commissioner Clive Grunshaw spoke out as the Valuing Police report, which assesses how forces are responding to spending cuts, detailed how Lancashire had to find savings of £73.5m between March 2010 and March 2015.

The document, published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), praises Lancashire Constabulary for making ‘good progress’.

But Mr Grunshaw stressed further cuts identified in the latest Comprehensive Spending Review would have an impact, with 525 police officer posts cut over the five-year period.

He said: “Although we are recognised as making good progress meeting the financial challenges, with crime falling and victim satisfaction rates high, I believe changes will start to show as a result of the further cuts being demanded.

“I’m faced with a dilemma of knowing the public want visible, accessible, policing, while having to balance that against a growing demand for police work in areas which the public don’t see, such as counter terrorism, serious and organised crime operations and child protection.

“This comes at a time when we are trying to balance the funding gap – and the diminishing numbers of officers we have as a result – with a growing call for the police to be the ‘social worker of all ills’.

“I remain committed to prioritising the frontline.”

Deputy Chief Constable Chris Weigh said that, while they were determined to meet the challenge, they could not preserve the frontline.

He said: “While we have identified nearly all of the original £43m required by 2015, we are now clearer that the overall financial ask has risen again to £73.5m by 2017/18, as a result of recent government budget announcements.

“I am extremely pleased that the HMIC has recognised that the Constabulary has responded well to the financial challenge it faces and that we are on track to make the necessary savings by 2015.

“Lancashire’s Valuing the Police report clearly highlights positive areas where the constabulary is meeting the challenge. In particular that we are identifying the savings ahead of target and that in doing so, we are maintaining our focus on high quality and visible policing services.”

Blackburn MP Jack Straw said: “Many local authorities across Lancashire have faced disproportionately hard cuts because of bias in the system, whether intended or not and Lancashire Constabulary has been hard hit too.”

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson the savings had been ‘challenging’. He added: “It is undeniable that this is posing a real challenge, but I think with the police are making good progress and we should commend the senior officers on rising to the challenge.

“They are delivering the savings commendably.”

Rachel Baines, from Lancashire Police Federation, said: “We have lost 525 officers in Lancashire, which is a huge proportion, and our concern is that they will not be able to get to jobs.

“We have already sold assets and 80 per cent of the budget is staff levels, so it is not difficult to work out where that money is going to come from.”

'We are not complacent', says chief

CRIME is continuing to fall in Lancashire, with latest statistics showing there were 5,322 fewer victims of crime in the county last year.

The statistics for April 2012 to March 2013 showed reductions across the majority of crime categories.

Overall, reports of crime fell by 5.5 per cent from 96,712 to 91,390 in comparison to the previous year.

Asst Chief Con Mark Bates said: “It is reassuring that, there are fewer people becoming victims of crime and our officers and staff are determined to see this trend continue.

“We are not complacent and we remain dedicated to keeping Lancashire’s communities safe, keeping levels of crime low and to delivering a high quality of service to victims of crime.

“We also recognise that communities themselves and partners play a significant role in crime reduction and prevention so we are grateful for their continued support too.”