Crimewave threat

Wiltshire police has announced that its annual budget could be slashed by up to £3m.

Chief constable Elizabeth Neville said the cut is the equivalent of up to 100 officers' jobs.

The cut would take hold next April as a result of a change in the way forces are funded.

Trowbridge has already seen a 30 per cent increase in violent crime this summer and a rise of 63 per cent in Melksham alone.

Phil Davenport, the chairman of the Wiltshire board of the Police Federation, said: "I'm very concerned about the situation. Police are overstretched as there are not enough officers to meet demands.

"One of the Government's aims is to reassure the public by showing them that we have enough staff on the streets.

"But this is not happening and the increases in crimes, such as street robbery, are not being deterred because there are simply not enough uniformed police officers in our towns."

Mr Davenport now wants the force to look at other ways to cut costs.

He said: "The Police Reform Bill is out next April. This should make things better and should not involve cost cutting. We have to look across the whole service to see what jobs we can do without, which do not benefit policing in Wiltshire."

One police source, who did not want to be named, said the force was already at breaking point as there are not enough staff to cover all shifts.

In a recent week there were only three policewomen covering two Wiltshire towns on a Friday night.

The source said: "People are going to find that a rural policeman becomes an even rarer occurrence. Wiltshire is going to suffer because of a lack of investment from central Government.

"Wiltshire is one of the safest counties in Britain, but for how long?"

Lynn Gaskin, the community safety manager for Wiltshire County Council, said: "Rural counties usually lose out generally. We would all like to see a police officer on our street corners, but this presence is not there.

"This is not helping to address people's fear of crime."

On Wednesday, Miss Neville told a press conference at police headquarters in Devizes she could not believe the Government would jeopardise the work of the Wiltshire force, praised by ministers for its low crime rate and embracing of technology. She said: "We have been held up as an example of good practice. We have been working hard to get officers away from paperwork and on the beat. But this costs money.

"The Government is looking to cut funding to this force and others in the south west by the implementation of this new formula."

Under the new formula, a larger proportion of the national police budget would go to metropolitan forces like those of London, Greater Manchester and Merseyside, while Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Avon and Somerset, Dorset and Devon and Cornwall would lose out to the tune of millions of pounds.

But if the anti-crime initiatives in the big cities are successful, Wiltshire could lose its reputation as one of the safest parts of the United Kingdom.

Miss Neville said: "There will be a displacement of crime.

"As criminals find it too hot in the inner cities, they will move into areas like Wiltshire.

"We have already seen how the hard drugs problem has moved from Bristol into Wiltshire."

Wiltshire police deals with more than one million calls on its services a year, 100,000 of them 999 calls. Miss Neville said demand was rising by 22 per cent each year and there was no sign of it falling off.