Police chief who attacked cuts has one of best-staffed forces, analysis reveals

A police chief who branded austerity cuts to frontline officers “too deep” has one of the best-staffed forces in the country, analysis by the Press Association has revealed.

Cleveland Police Chief Constable Mike Veale said on Friday that despite having “brilliant people doing a brilliant job” there were not enough officers to tackle crime because cuts were “too deep” and had gone on for too long.

But analysis by the PA found Cleveland is one of the best-staffed forces in the country, with one full-time officer for every 450 people in its 566,000 population.

Neighbouring forces Durham and North Yorkshire appeared to fare worse, with the equivalent of 552 and 607 people per officer respectively.

Cleveland, which covers the Middlesbrough and Hartlepool region of the North East, has the seventh-best ratio in the country of full-time officers to people.

But the force has still seen its budget cut by £25.5 million and lost nearly 400 frontline officers since 2010.

While the force has a total of 1,257 full-time officers in March 2018, Home Office statistics show its number of frontline officers has fallen by nearly a third from 1,512 to 1,099 since 2010.

The City of London force, which polices the smallest population in England and Wales of about 7,650, topped the list with one officer for every 11 people.

Outside the City of London, the Met was the best-staffed force with one officer for every 290 of its 8.8 million population.

Wiltshire Police, where Mr Veale previously served as chief constable before joining Cleveland in April, was at the bottom of the list with one officer to every 721 people.

The analysis used Home Office data on full-time officers at every police force and compared it to Office for National Statistics population estimates from mid-2017.

Mr Veale said his force did not have enough staff and resources to protect communities and called on the Government to “give us the tools and we will do the job”.

He added: “These are complex issues and while simply crying ‘austerity’ is not good enough, no one in policing today can claim it isn’t a factor.

“I would not be exhibiting the courage that my officers and staff deserve if I continue to say we have enough resources, if I continue with this commentary that things in policing are OK.

“They are not OK. The cuts created and caused by austerity are too deep and have gone on for too long.

“We have brilliant people doing a brilliant job but we do not have enough of them and the facts speak for themselves.”

Shadow policing minister Louise Haigh told the Press Association that communities were being left unprotected because the Government has cut police forces for the last eight years in a row.

She said: “With police numbers at record lows it’s little wonder that were seeing violent and sexual crimes soaring year on year whilst conviction rates plummet.

“This is the only Government in modern history that has cut officer numbers every year it has been in office and the crime we are now seeing is on their heads.”

A Home Office spokesman said decisions about how police deploy their resources, including the size of the workforce, were operational matters for their chief constables.

The Police Federation of England and Wales’ vice-chair Che Donald said officers were having to do “more and more with less and less” due to funding cuts since 2010.

He added: “Forces are facing increasingly limited resources and tough decisions have to be made about what is prioritised. It is unrealistic for the Government to think this is sustainable.

“Even the Home Affairs Select Committee has backed us in calling for an urgent injection of funds into the police service – or face ‘dire consequences’.”