Wiltshire Police Chief reiterates commitment to people of the Force
It follows the announcement that three police facilities will close next month
Wiltshire's Chief of Police has reiterated her commitment to retaining officers despite the decision to close three sites in a bid to save money.
The Force needs to realise savings of more than £5 million this year and will close buildings in Amesbury, Salisbury and Devizes from April to help achieve it.
Chief Constable Catherine Roper told Greatest Hits Radio that the changes are part of an ongoing financial review programme, which considers Estate, Fleet and People.
She said: "The reason that people are third, because I often get asked, is because that is my least favourite option. We have more police officers and police staff in Wiltshire than we have had in over a decade and I'm trying to protect the workforce.
"I've given a public commitment that we will not be reducing police officers and absolutely I will be maintaining that."
The Chief moved to reassure the public that the service we receive won't be diminished.
"My commitment to everybody is that you will see an improved offer through increased visibility, an increase front counter capability across the county, more yellow phones to be able to call as quickly and I think there our police resources will be in a better place to then serve our communities."
Chief Roper stopped short of putting a value on the amount of cash the changes would help save, as that is based on how quickly staff and officers are able to transition out of the closing estates, but she described it as 'significant'.
Any future savings would be made around the Force's vehicles, with the Chief once more insisting that Officers won't be left shorthanded.
"Everybody will always have the fleet that they need to have," she said, adding: "But where some of the fleet isn't being used as much as it could be then why don't we reduce the fleet? Because then we can reduce costs and again protect the level of resilience in terms of our resources."
Chief Constable Roper said she will be looking at increasing the number of mobile police stations to get into the heart of more communities, allowing us more contact with officers to share our concerns and help them keep us safe.