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Reporting local life since 1854
Thursday, August 30, 2012
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CITY OFFERED GUNNERS ACE
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Number of police officers on duty falls to levels not seen since 1970s Stores are set to quit town
2400 2300 2200
2157
OFFICERS
2080
2001
OFFICERS
2005
2347
OFFICERS 2010
OFFICERS
1983
OFFICERS
2100
2156 2006
2231
1977
2164
OFFICERS 1995
OFFICERS
2000
1989
1750
1900 1800
OFFICERS 2015 1750
1941
1915
OFFICERS
OFFICERS
1978
2012
1700
THE THINNER BLUE LINE
1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Graphic: Dave Clowes
BY ALEX CAMPBELL
alex.campbell@thesentinel.co.uk
FEWER police officers are now on the beat in Staffordshire than at any time since the 1970s. New figures show the number of officers employed by Staffordshire Police has plunged to its lowest level since 1978 through continued forced retirements and a recruitment freeze. Records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show the force has 1,915 officers, down from a
peak of 2,347 in 2006, and numbers are now at their lowest since the late 1970s when 1,941 policed the county. And it is thought the force had more than 2,300 officers when it was created from the merger of the City of Stoke-on-Trent Police and Staffordshire County Police in 1968. Senior officers say falling numbers are mitigated by increases in police support staff, but critics say this is countered by rising bureaucracy, population growth and the increasing complexity of modern policing. Staffordshire Police Federation
said the Government’s funding cuts, which mean the force must save £34 million by 2015 when policing levels will fall to 1,750, will mean residents have to get used to a reduced police response. Andy Adams, chairman of the Police Federation in the county, said: “It will be difficult to maintain reductions in crime. People are not naive enough to think that with so fewer numbers we can just carry on. “We can't be everywhere. Things will have to be assessed and attended in order of importance.
“Police will be doing their best but they can't go on doing everything.” Former inspector Nigel Gunn, who retired last year after 30 years’ service, said: “Police do a lot of things that local authorities and the NHS should be doing, like dealing with nuisance neighbours, but they are not around in the evening and weekends.The police won’t be able to cope.” Crime fears: See Page 6
What do you think? Email us at letters@thesentinel.co.uk
MP Paul Farrelly is to write to the owner of two stores which are set to pull out of Newcastle. Arcadia-owned Burton and Evans will move out of the Ironmarket next month. Now the MP is to contact Sir Philip Green, the owner of the Arcadia Group, in a bid to keep the stores open. It is the latest blow for Newcastle which has seen a number of stores pull out of the town in the last few years. See page 4
Council writes off tax debts COUNCIL chiefs are set to write off millions in unpaid tax bills – despite tendering for a firm to collect debts. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is owed £19 million in unpaid council tax bills since the 1990s. Thirteen firms are bidding for the contract to recover £5 million of the debt. But the authority is now poised to write off millions of pounds of ‘uncollectable’ debts. See page 11
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