Police chief are set to rubber stamp plans to cut 98 senior roles, 100 police officers and 56 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) at Bedfordshire Police over the next four years.
Bedfordshire Police Authority, which oversees policing across the county, meet this week to consider a report by Chief Constable Alf Hitchcock.
Under the government’s comprehensive spending review, Beds Police is required to trim £19million from its budget by 2014/15, and a further £14million is likely to be needed by 2017/18.
Removing 100 police officer posts and 56 PCSO roles is expected to save £7million.
The senior roles set to be cut include two chief superintendents, seven superintendents, five chief inspectors, 16 inspectors, 20 sergeants and 48 constables.
The report says: “Bedfordshire Police has already demonstrated its ability to improve performance with fewer resources; meeting dramatic funding cuts and delivering fundamental structural change.
“The police authority can therefore take assurance that the force will be able to deliver further savings without reversing the substantial performance improvements achieved over the last year-and-a-half.”
According to a new report to be presented to the police authority, Bedfordshire Police will shed up to 100 more police officers, 56 PCSOs, together with 30 police cars, and deploy all shifts from either the Kempston HQ or Luton, to make £7million of savings.
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