BEFORE the end of the month, Bury police will lose 19 police officers to Manchester city centre.

The poor relations of Greater Manchester Police - those residing in the supposed "sleepy hollow" of Bury - seem once again to lose out.

In April, each division will be given its own budget and Bury's is much less than other areas. In 1996 Bury was reorganised and subsequently lost numerous police officers - a disaster Bury has never recovered from.

While everyone accepts that different areas have different policing needs, in my opinion it is not acceptable that every other division of territorial police in Greater Manchester has in excess of 100 constables and 14 sergeants above that of Bury.

The police officers in Bury perform as well as, if not better, than the rest of the forces, but we are rewarded by losing police. Who suffers? The public who reside and work in the area.

The blame for this situation lies with headquarters' management who have allowed this to happen. The Police Federation, since the inception of police community support officers (PCSOs), has warned that the public may suffer policing on the cheap - a concern held by police commanders and police authorities.

Bury will get an extra ten PCSOs this year and will lose 19 fully trained, fully empowered police officers. PCSOs do a good job, but are supposed to be additional to, not to replace support.

I would like to put on record, my thanks to those police officers who are leaving Bury and I hope the knock-on effects to the public will be minimal.

Undoubtedly, questions will be asked, no-one will accept responsibility, and the only person to be criticised by Greater Manchester Police will be me.

I am curious to see who the public of Bury, Ramsbottom, Whitefield, Prestwich, Radcliffe, Tottington and all the other areas within the borough, will blame.

ANDY WRIGHT

Constables' Federation

representative,

Bury police station.