Police confident of maintaining services

Local policing should not be affected too much by the Comprehensive Spending Review issued by the Chancellor yesterday, according to a senior Officer.

Dyfed Powys Police Deputy Chief Constable, Miss Jackie Roberts, said that the force was already on target to meeting the proposed cuts and will do everything within its powers to avoid compulsory redundancies.

She said: “In today’s Comprehensive Spending Review statement the Chancellor announced annual spending cuts of 4% for the police service over the next four years. This represents an unprecedented budget reduction.

“Based on the information we currently have it appears that our existing plans are on track to make the required savings outlined but nonetheless this will still be a significant challenge.

“Some of the detail in terms of funding formula, other grants and council tax implications for Dyfed Powys will not be known until mid December when we get our formal budget settlement.

“From early calculations we predict that we will need to reduce our annual budget by £8 million by 2014/15, with almost three quarters of the savings having to be achieved by 2012/13.

“There will be no let up in implementing our plans given the challenging timescales we still need to reduce the number of posts within the organisation through a range of HR initiatives including natural wastage but we remain committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies and will seek to maintain visibility in our communities.”