County sees crime fall despite police ‘savings’
CRIME levels in Suffolk have fallen by one per cent, despite police budget cuts.
The figures covering December 2010 to 2011 were revealed in a report examining how police forces across the country are handling a 30 per cent slash in funding.
Total recorded crime in England and Wales fell by three per cent.
The Policing in Austerity report, published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, praised Suffolk for its ‘ambitious and well planned’ partnership with Norfolk Police in a bid to save £16.9 million.
Despite the number of officers dipping below 1,200, Suffolk’s chief constable Simon Ash said the figure would increase in the next two years.
He said: “The programme has helped us meet our savings target in the last financial year by delivering more shared services in both operational policing and creating joint units for business support functions such as HR and ICT.
“Importantly, this has been achieved while maintaining the number of response and neighbourhood constables and PCSOs working in our communities, following a re-organisation of our local policing service last year.
“We welcome this latest report, which demonstrates that Suffolk is meeting the financial challenge, continuing to reduce crime and maintaining a visible front-line service to local communities.”
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
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