Watchdog alarm over strength of frontline policing

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found that on average just 11 per cent of officers and police community safety officers (PCSOs) were visibly available for frontline duties – despite year-on-year police budget increases over the past four decades.

It blamed police forces' over-reliance on PCSOs, who do not work after 8pm, as well as shift patterns, increased bureaucracy and the desire to have more officers concentrating on specialist areas of policing.

Inspectors found examples where 30 officers and staff were tasked with taking a burglary case to court, and 24 people were involved in the first 12 hours of a rape investigation.

In most of the police forces inspected by HMIC, beat and response officers had more days off than at work.

Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Denis O'Connor, a former Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, said the findings showed that constabularies need a radical shake-up if they are to stand any chance of handling budget cuts without affecting frontline services.

Last month the Yorkshire Post revealed the region's four forces were braced for cuts of up to 50m over the next three years.

South Yorkshire's budget is likely to shrink by 5.6 per cent, while West Yorkshire (5.5 per cent), Humberside (4.5 per cent) and North Yorkshire (1.8 per cent) will also be badly affected.

HMIC found that only one in five forces nationwide were prepared for the scale of cuts they were predicting, and nearly one in three forecasted a funding gap so large that they were not well prepared to cope.

Sir Denis urged the Government to focus cash on putting officers on the beat and said Ministers should consider withholding cash from forces who do not spend it wisely.

He added the Government should be more realistic about how police manage the risks they face, pointing to the fact that 2,600 pages of guidance were given to officers in 2009 alone.

He said: "Can we reduce the cost of policing without reducing public confidence? If we change the system and priorities, then possibly we can."

Anne McIntosh, the Tory MP for Thirsk and Malton, who has called for tougher action against anti-social behaviour in Yorkshire market towns, said: "There are two things which the Labour government got badly wrong on policing.

"It made councils responsible for tackling anti-social behaviour when it should have been a police responsibility, and it also oversaw an overdependence on PCSOs.

"PCSOs should have been an add-on to the police service and we should never have become dependent on them. They should be the ones doing paperwork in the office.

"Incidents on the streets should be dealt with by officers who are fully fledged and fully trained, and there should be more of them on the beat."

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison said his force had already introduced some of the changes recommended by HMIC, such as a review of shift patterns.

He said: "We have a number of established initiatives under way to prepare us for the future and ensure that, although we will be a leaner, smaller organisation, we will also be a fitter one, striving to deliver the level of service which currently results in more than eight out of 10 people being satisfied with the service they receive from us."

North Yorkshire Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said "tough choices" needed to be made. He added: "Forces are in very different financial positions across the country according to the extent of efficiencies already made, the proportion of funding they receive centrally as opposed to through council tax, and the collaboration they take part in.

"They will need to consider a wide range of approaches to close the financial gap. One-size solutions will not fit all."