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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/police-warn-ministers-over-cuts.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Policing minister Nick Herbert has been urged to rethink heavy cuts to force budgets" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/min-police-warn-ministers-over-cuts.jpg" alt="Policing minister Nick Herbert has been urged to rethink heavy cuts to force budgets"/></a></p>
<p>Policing leaders have warned ministers that they may not be able to protect frontline forces because of heavy cuts to their budgets over the coming two years, it has been revealed.</p>
<p>The Home Office has ordered 20% of cuts to police budgets over the next four years, but it wants to &#8220;frontload&#8221; the reductions so the bulk of the pain is felt in the next two years &#8211; with 6% sliced off Government grants next year, 8% in 2012/13 and 4% in each of the following two years.</p>
<p>The Association of Police Authorities (APA) on Sunday wrote to policing minister Nick Herbert, warning that this approach risks &#8220;long-term damage to policing capability&#8221;. They called for the burden of the cuts to be shifted to the second half of the period covered by Chancellor George Osborne&#8217;s spending review, between 2013 and 2015.</p>
<p>In the letter, obtained by the Daily Telegraph, the cross-party association insists that it is committed to protecting the public and frontline police services. </p>
<p>But it adds: &#8220;The ability of authorities and forces to achieve this outcome is seriously impacted by the phasing of the proposed cuts. While understanding the imperative to reduce expenditure quickly, a sensible, realistic approach is necessary to realise the savings objectives and avoid long term damage to policing capability.&#8221;</p>
<p>Signatories include the APA&#8217;s Conservative chairman Rob Gardham, his Labour deputy Mark Burns-Williamson and Liberal Democrat and Independent members.</p>
<p>Police authorities, made up of local councillors and independent members, hold police chiefs to account and set budgets in each of the 43 force areas of England and Wales, as well as a few other bodies like the British Transport Police. They are due to be replaced by directly-elected police commissioners in 2012 &#8211; by which time the worst of the cuts will already have been implemented.</p>
<p>Shadow home secretary Ed Balls said: &#8220;I hope the Government will seriously consider this cross-party plea. Police forces have already made clear the speed and scale of the cuts means the frontline can&#8217;t be protected by long-term efficiencies. It will inevitably mean thousands fewer police officers, which will undermine the fight against crime.</p>
<p>&#8220;But doing all this at a time when there are a growing number of public protests, an ongoing terror threat, the security challenge of the Olympics and an expensive experiment with directly-elected police chiefs is a reckless gamble. The Government must urgently think again.&#8221;</p>
<p>A Home Office spokesman said: &#8220;We are cutting red tape and bureaucracy, freeing officers to get back to the frontline where people want to see them. Our measures to scrap the stop and account form and reduce the box ticking around stop and search will free up to 800,000 hours of police time alone.&#8221;</p>
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