John Dwyer has made his proposals for his second police budget since being elected as Police & Crime Commissioner for Cheshire.
The Commissioner said "In this budget I have focussed on my key priorities of reducing crime and supporting victims. It has not been an easy budget to set as we are still facing cuts in funding from Government but I have also been mindful that the public of Cheshire are also facing difficult financial challenges, many have not received a pay rise in the last year and so I am not going to increase the amount they pay for policing."
2014/15 will be the fourth consecutive year of real terms reductions in Government funding.£35m budget savings have been made since 2010 and a further £34m savings are needed over the next four years.
The total budget for policing in 2014/15 will be £189.8million and a further £9.7m savings have been identified for next year.
All major procurement contracts have been reviewed which will save £1.4m and, with 80% of expenditure relating to people, reductions of this scale will result in fewer people. Whilst there will be a managed reduction of officers through retirement and leavers, the budget will allow for the recruitment of 50 new officers next year. This is intended to prevent the service from facing a problem further down the line when they have no young in service officers coming up through the ranks.
Overall there will be a loss of 70 police staff posts across Cheshire next year.
The Commissioner has identified key priorities to invest in, including piloting a new neighbourhood policing model and working with local communities to manage crime reduction, committing additional resources to dealing with cyber crime and working with partners to safeguard the most vulnerable children and young people who are being sexually exploited or are at risk of being so.
John Dwyer added, "The continuing financial challenges cannot be underestimated. The root and branch review has identified a clear way forward to achieving the required savings whilst maintaining and where possible improving services, I have set this budget to try, as far as possible, to meet the policing needs of the people of Cheshire without passing any costs directly on to them".
The Police & Crime Panel will consider the budget proposals on 7th February and subject to their agreement, the police budget will be set.
