Jobs cut by 'under-funded' police

Surrey Police said the cuts would not affect the public face of the force

Surrey Police are to cut more than 140 jobs, saying government under-funding has made it increasingly difficult to protect front-line services.

The police authority has said it will axe 144 officers and staff jobs in 2009/2010 mainly by cutting bureaucracy and streamlining support services.

The cuts were announced on Monday along with a 3.8% increase in the police budget to �198.8m.

The force said it would not damage the quality of policing seen by the public.

Surrey Police Authority set the budget for the coming year at a public meeting in Dorking on Monday.

Budget gap

It said the force continued to face a substantial gap in its budget as a result of years of underfunding from the government, arising from a "flawed police funding formula".

It said Surrey taxpayers have to provide about 50% of their police budget, compared to a national average of less than 25%.

Last June the government put a cap of �189.6m on Surrey Police's budget for 2009/2010.

A spokesman for the police authority said on Monday the figure was "notional", but it meant this year's increase could not be more than 5% of �189.6m.

Over the next year, savings of �3.8m will come from streamlining business processes, reorganising departments and reducing four policing divisions to three.

But the policing precept to taxpayers will still increase by 4.89%.

"Making the decision to increase the precept by 4.89% in the current financial climate was not an easy one," said authority chairman Peter Williams.

"The choice we faced was whether or not to make cuts to important and effective front-line policing services.

"We believe that increasing the precept to protect them is the right thing to do in the short-term.

"We will continue to do all that we can in the long-term to seek a funding settlement that better takes into account the policing needs of Surrey people and the amount they should have to pay for them."

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