Speed cameras could help fund police

Speed cameras on a Bedfordshire motorway could be switched on permanently to raise funds for the county's cash-strapped force, its police and crime commissioner threatened.

Olly Martins said Bedfordshire Police was in such a desperate financial plight that he may have to resort to turning on the speed traps between junctions 10 and 13 of the M1 all the time.

Mr Martins said he was considering the drastic move because he was "running out of levers to pull" to keep the force financially afloat.

He said: "Strict enforcement of the speed limit could raise £1 million and to me that's better than losing 25 more police officers."

Mr Martins told the home affairs select committee earlier this week he is open to companies such as the airline easyJet advertising on patrol vehicles, and is prepared to sell sponsorship of police uniforms.

He blamed the drastic moves on spending cuts, with more likely in the chancellor's spending review at the end of the month when Mr Martins expects £20 million to be slashed from his force's £100 million police budget.

Such a move would force a reduction in officer numbers and a recruitment freeze, he said.

The commissioner said Bedfordshire Police is "stretched to the limit", with just 169 officers per 100,000 people against a national average of 232 and 388 in London, despite having some of the highest levels of gun and knife crime, burglary and robbery in the country.

He said: "That's why I am prepared to take desperate measures to avoid reducing our already anaemic police numbers."

Mr Martins urged those against the idea of permanent speed cameras and a "sponsored" police to sign a petition calling on the Government for increased funding, saying: "We have to make them listen."