A Kirklees MP has thrown her weight behind a campaign to prevent further cuts to the police.
Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox has supported efforts in Parliament to stop planned cuts from going ahead, warning they would lead to a drastic reduction in police numbers.
“I share the concerns of West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner that more cuts will mean the Government is taking a huge gamble with public safety,” she said.
“Now is not the time to further reduce the numbers of police officers. By next March, West Yorkshire will have 1,275 fewer police officers than we did in 2010 – a reduction of 22 per cent.
“With violent crime increasing by around 50 per cent it will be hard to maintain there is no link with the fall in the number of bobbies on the beat.”
The Examiner revealed last week the number of police officers in Kirklees has fallen by 90 in just five years.
The number of full-time equivalent uniformed officers was 659 in April 2010 but that had dropped to 569 by this April.
And Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has told of his fears over the impact of any further cuts to police budgets, saying: “There is a critical mass in terms of numbers below which you cannot properly police a very big urban area. You can only cut so far.”
Mrs Cox spoke during a debate in Parliament, saying only 20 per cent of a police officer’s job these days relates to recorded crime, while 80 per cent relates to safeguarding and vulnerability.
She is worried this is something the Home Office doesn’t quantify and therefore has a skewed view of the realities on the frontline.
“There are also concerns about what these cuts will mean for Neighbourhood Policing Teams, which have been successful and popular.
“We will see all the proactive police work that’s been done over the last 20 years vanish and only enough resources for a reactive service.
“We will also see cuts to community safety budgets and the likelihood of a rise in the blight of anti-social behaviour and low level crime.”
Many forces fear budgets cuts could be devastating due to changes to the funding formula.
And a number of police and crime commissioners – including North Yorkshire’s Julia Mulligan – have urged policing minister Mike Penning to delay a decision on force budgets expected in the Government’s spending review this month.
