Police's street presence can be increased despite cuts, Home Secretary says (From Bucks Free Press)

Police's street presence can be increased despite cuts, Home Secretary says

7:50am Tuesday 28th September 2010 in News By James Nadal

Police's street presence can be increased despite cuts, Home Secretary says

THE visibility of police on the streets can be increased, despite impending budget cuts, the Home Secretary says.

While spending on policing will have to be reduced, cutting 'red tape' will allow officers to tackle crime on the streets, Theresa May told the Free Press.

Mrs May was responding to comments from Chief Inspector Colin Seaton, Deputy Area Commander for Wycombe.

He said in a letter last week it was 'unrealistic' to maintain the force's performance at the same level with a 25 per cent reduction in its budget and could not make such a promise to readers.

Labour have warned crime could rise if the police's budget is drastically cut.

But Mrs May said figures had not been finalised.

The cuts will be set out in the Government's Spending Review in October.

She said: “The Home Office and the policing budget will have to take some cuts. We have been left a legacy of significant deficit and we have to deal with it for the sake of the economy."

Maidenhead MP Mrs May, whose constituency includes Cookham, said: “We know the police budget, the inspectorate has told us, can take a 12 per cent cut without affecting front line policing so we're going through the spending round and I'm very ken to ensure we can actually increase the visibility of police on our streets.

“So one of the things I'm doing is helping them doing that by getting rid of a lot of the bureaucracy they have to deal with.

“Cutting red tape, making sure they can actually be out there fighting crime rather than filling in forms which is what I want to see and we're doing every bit we can as a Government to help them do that.”