CUTS to the police in West Yorkshire are set to revolutionise the way the force operates – but its chief has vowed that the frontline will be protected at all costs.

In an exclusive interview with the Examiner, the Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison has confirmed that 13 major reviews are under way looking at how £70m can be saved from the budget over the next two years.

And it seems that in many ways the force is becoming more regionalised as procurement of police equipment will be done by the West, North and South Yorkshire forces along with Humberside.

And we can now reveal that the West Yorkshire Police helicopter will be shared with other forces, almost 80 traffic police officers will be put back on frontline beat patrols, Huddersfield traffic police will relocate to Wakefield, the motorway unit will cease to exist, and support units such as the diving unit, horses and dogs may become regionalised.

The number of chief inspectors is set to be cut with some forced to leave the force after completing 30 years service.

The West Yorkshire Police budget for 2009/10 is £424m, but the police must reduce that by £90m by 2014.

The bulk of the savings, £70m, must be made in the first two years and this is causing most problems for the force.

Sir Norman cannot understand why the savings should not be spread evenly over four years.

“For some reason that’s beyond me, we have to have to save two-thirds of the money in the first two years,’’ he said. “That puts pressure on doing everything very quickly and creates a sense of anxiety.’’

He said that 85% of the police budget goes on wages and so it follows that jobs will go.

The aim is to do most of this through people retiring or leaving and not being replaced.

But Sir Norman pledged that local neighbourhood policing, response to 999 calls and specialist units that the public often don’t see, such as firearms, counter terrorism, the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team and child protection, remain vitally important and will be protected from the cuts.

Sir Norman regards all other aspects of policing as “the supply line’’ and they will be examined to see what savings can be made. This includes scientific support, crime recording and building cases to go through the Criminal Justice system.

He said of aspects of this ‘supply line’: “They have to be made more efficient or be cut altogether.’’

And Sir Norman revealed that beat officers on the frontline will have more responsibility for crime scene investigation, certainly for recording crimes from the scene which they will do on Blackberry mobile phones to cut down on the red tape.

“We will make it as least bureaucratic as possible,’’ he said.

He added that the number of crime scenes attended by specialist crime scene investigators will be prioritised to make the best use of resources.

“More of the burden will be carried by frontline officers to determine as to what can be done,’’ said Sir Norman. “They will have more discretion and responsibility. These officers will have to do more.’’

And he pledged that those who are not pulling their weight will find themselves under pressure.

“This is the time to ensure that the people we keep are the most committed, professional, dedicated and hardworking,’’ said Sir Norman. “If someone is only giving 90% when everyone else is giving 110% then let’s shine the spotlight on them.

“We have an unsatisfactory performance procedure to root out the under performers. The time is right to blow the dust off this procedure so that it really hurts.’’

He said 99% of police employees are hardworking people willing to ‘go that extra mile’, but he aims to root out the 1% who don’t.

Proactive policing has been a buzzword in recent years with each division such as Kirklees having its own intelligence unit gathering information on prolific offenders and suspects.

This now seems set to change with few intelligence units based at key strategic locations around the force.

Sir Norman said: “The positive news is that some months ago we were planning for a smaller organisation and have not been recruiting since late spring and early summer so we will be about 430 staff fewer by the end of March next year.

“That is a saving of about £5m which is a good start.’’

But he said the numbers leaving would not be sufficient and has previously warned there may be up to 300 compulsory job losses.

West Yorkshire Police now employs 5,784 officers and 4,258 civilian staff.

“We will not be recruiting in 2011 but our aim is to start recruiting again in 2012/2013,’’ said Sir Norman.

THE way the roads and motorways are policed in West Yorkshire will change.

The county now has a motorway unit, but that will vanish by April 2011 and will be policed from new-style road policing teams.

The aim will be to pool resources such as vehicles and save cash.

Huddersfield traffic police are now based at Holmfirth, but they will start and finish their shifts at the Carr Gate police complex in Wakefield along with the police for Wakefield itself.

Calderdale and Bradford traffic police will be based in Bradford with a third roads policing HQ in Leeds.

The number of traffic officers is to be cut by around 76 – and they will be redeployed back on to the beat.

Sir Norman said: “Roads policing has been based in every division and we have had eight plus the motorway unit.

“This will now be restructured to three and they will cover the major trunk roads and the motorways too so it will be a leaner operation.

“Officers will be released from traffic to go back to the frontline to fill the vacancies that we are carrying because we are not recruiting. It means we will have a more experienced frontline.

SOME senior officers may be forced to retire early next year.

Sir Norman said the rationalisation of departments could leave the force with more chief inspectors than it needs – and those who have done 30 years, which means they can receive a full pension, may be forced to go.

The Chief Constable has a power to use this regulation called A19 and he said it is something that has been under consideration.

“I don’t want to use it as a blank sheet,’’ said Sir Norman. “But come spring next year when headquarters functions have been rationalised it will leave too many chief inspectors for roles than we have jobs for. We may use A19 in a specific way to deal with that logjam.’’

WEST Yorkshire Police will keep its own helicopter – but it will become a “national resource’’.

This means it is on call to go anywhere else to back-up police on incidents, but helicopters from other forces will also come into West Yorkshire when needed.

At the moment the police have 36 aircraft in England and Wales, but this will be reduced to just 23.

Sir Norman said: “The West Yorkshire helicopter will remain at Carr Gate in Wakefield and so will remain close to the Kirklees area.’’

The high running costs will also be shared with other forces so it will be less of a burden to West Yorkshire ratepayers.

In some ways, West Yorkshire will become part of a Yorkshire and Humberside regional force in the way all four will join together to share specialist resources such as police horses and divers.

And Sir Norman revealed that only last week all four forces had agreed to share procurement of police equipment to further drive costs down.