Lincolnshire Police must cut 190 officers without more funding says PCC
The Police and Crime Commissioner has written an open letter to the people of Lincolnshire detailing the financial situation
Lincolnshire Police funding, or hereby the lack of it, has been in the news agenda seemingly for decades.
However, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Marc Jones, says the budget is now at breaking point.
He's written an open letter calling for more government support - which without - the force will be forced to cut nearly 200 officers.
"We will be in a situation where the basics of policing won't be possible," said Marc Jones.
"That includes protecting the members of our community and society and indeed the police themselves.
"We are already stretched beyond where any other police forces are stretched."
Lincolnshire Police is the lowest funded force per head of population in the country.
Due to it's vast rural nature, and lack of major cities, it's often been overlooked for funding.
"We would be talking of reductions of around 200 police staff, which is about a quarter of the entire staffing, plus up to 200 police officers to balance the books," said Marc.
"We know that those kind of reductions would not be safe for the staff or the public.
"So it will be a case of either we make the reductions and create gaps in the service or we keep spending the money at the rate we are and we simply run out."
The force commissioned an independent review of their finances through the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), to see if any efficiencies could be found.
The report states that "financial management within Lincolnshire Police is robust, with clear oversight, disciplined budget control, and a culture of operational cost-consciousness”.
Concluding, "Lincolnshire’s current funding settlement is not sufficient to support a sustainable policing model in the medium term."
Marc Jones tells us conversations with Government are ongoing, with plans for more talks in September after the summer recess.
"We're working really closely with ministers to try and resolve it," he said.
"But as we know, the Government is not awash with money at the moment. So we are competing with lots of other things to try and get our voice heard."