Police force to cut 60 support officers in savings

Cheshire Police say they have to save £13m across the next four years

Cheshire Police are looking to cut their roster of community support officers from 87 to 27 as they deal with "significant financial challenges".

The force said it wants to save £13m over the next four years and put more police officers in neighbourhood teams.

It has launched an internal consultation on the plans, which it described as "necessary, despite significant efforts of the force to secure appropriate levels of savings required to balance our budget this year".

As part of the proposals, it said it had "looked at re-designing our workforce to meet the challenges of modern-day policing, supported by having our highest ever number of police officers".

Police community support officers are paid members of forces who share some, but not all powers of a police officer.

Chief Constable Mark Roberts said they "make a significant contribution".

"As we continue to be impacted by the legacy of austerity, we have got to look at ways of working differently."

He said the planned changes "would put more warranted police officers in our local policing teams going forwards than we have had this year".

"The public have told us that they want more police officers on the streets tackling crime, and these proposals will support that work, whilst also supporting the government's Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee."