VETERAN police officer Gary Conlon fears for his family's safety under plans to slash the number of officers in South Bucks.

The 54-year-old PC, who has walked the beat in Chesham for 15 years, said policing in the town will become a nightmare under proposals to relocate officers to places of higher crime.

He said: "I am worried about the safety of my wife and two daughters because the cuts will mean there will not be so many police officers here in Chesham."

Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Charles Pollard revealed a £1.6 million budget cut for Chiltern Vale Police area, which covers towns such as High Wycombe, Marlow, Beaconsfield, Chesham and Amersham, in December.

A total of 47 officers will be transferred to areas such as Slough and Oxford. Many rural officers left behind will be centralised at Wycombe and Amersham.

PC Conlon added: "It takes about five or ten minutes to travel from Amersham to Chesham, this could make all the difference when a crime is being committed."

He said cuts would strike at the heart of Chesham's police force: "I am afraid the remaining officers in Chesham will not be able to show their face around the streets so often after the cuts."

Chief Inspector Richard Bennett, of High Wycombe police, said: "The loss of 47 police officers will take place over a two-year period and they will come from a variety of ranks. It will not be all area beat officers that are lost.

"I am concerned that PC Conlon has these worries because he has not been given the correct information about the cuts."

But Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, said she supported PC Conlon.

"Community policing is pivotal to policing in this area. People like to see policemen pounding the streets," she said. "Thank God we have policemen like PC Conlon who care about the community."

The new Chiltern Vale budget will create two types of officer. Those transferred to Amersham and High Wycombe will be Reactive Teams (RATS), which patrol the entire Chiltern Vale area. The officers in more local police stations will be called Community Action Teams (CATS).

The latest concerns come three weeks after officers at Amersham traffic department were ordered to use their eight patrol cars less to save on petrol money.

Cllr Francis Robinson OBE, of the Thames Valley Police Authority, said: "The changes will not damage the service provided to the public."

A spokesman at Thames Valley Police headquarters in Kidlington said: "The key thing for people to realise is that we will cut everything before we start taking bobbies off the streets."

Chesham mayor Alan Walters said: "It is deplorable what's happening here, the whole philosophy of policing is changing for the worse.

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