LANCASHIRE'S Chief Constable has said massive cuts mean the force will not be able to drive down crime figures any further.

Steve Finnigan, who is expecting to lose 1,000 staff to save £50million from his £300m budget, said the government should have protected policing from cuts.

And he warned ministers against cutting any more than the predicted 25 per cent of his funds, warning it would be 'madness'.

Mr Finnigan said recorded crime was at record lows and on less resources they would look to stop crime from rising, rather than achieve reductions.

Speaking for first time about the situation, Mr Finnigan said: "In my 34 years as a police officer I haven't seen anything like this in terms of cuts.

"I am asking the authority to be realistic about performance. I am not going to say 'I want to see five to 10 per cent reductions in crime' when we are currently at unprecedentedly low levels for burglary and auto crime. We are not going to drive them down.

"We have to be realistic about the expectations going forward. With 25 per cent cuts you will not see significant improvements.

"Rather than talk about reductions, I think sustainibility is what you look for in future."

The chief constable revealed: • 1,000 job losses over four years are likely to be achieved mainly through retirements.

• A recruitment freeze would last for up to three years.

• Police officer numbers will be likely to return to the levels of 10 years ago when they were 470 less than today's 3,500 figure.

• The force's 430 police community support officers are at risk. Funding for 222 funding ends on March 31. Whether there is continuing government cash for the rest will be revealed in October.

• Frontline neighbourhood officers and major crime units such counter terrorism, the murder squad and public protection unit cannot be protected.

• The £5.2million overtime bill is being slashed and plans are being drawn up to increase the force's bank of 470 special constables to plug gaps.

• Police stations could close.

Mr Finnigan said he didn't agree this would all mean crime would rise. He said the force would still aspire to be the best in the country.

"We will have to get more creative", Mr Finnigan said.

"We have good people and that's what I am confident about."

He said policing should have been protected from cuts: "I am surprised policing is not. It appears it has not been given any level of protection. I understand how important health and education are but community safety, crime and disorder are the top three.

"If they hit police with 40 per cent cuts that would be madness because we would only be reactive. But I don't think that will happen.

"I won't get into apocalyptic 'woe is me' because I recognise we have to play our part.

"If you allow your heads to go down and feel ‘woe is me’ then we are stuffed."

Lancashire police has 6,000 staff in total. Projections are for £17million cuts by the end of March. Some £10million has already been saved over the past year and placed in a reserve to ease that burden this year. There is then likely to be £12million axed for each of the next two years and £11million the 12 months after that.

Today (FRIDAY), a new shift rota comes into force which sees officers working eight, rather than 10-hour days which has massively reduced the number of days off required for officers.