Humberside police force to lose 139 officers

Humbershire Police will lose 139 officers in the next year due to funding cuts of £10.2m, under new budget proposals unveiled by the police authority.

It is likely the cuts will be made by not replacing officers who leave rather than with redundancies.

The number of officers in the force dropped by 70 to 1,961 in the year to September 2010.

The authority will make a decision on the proposals on 15 February.

Concern over speed

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Leaver said: "The force and authority have worked hard to develop a plan which will reduce the impact to operational policing whilst allowing us to hit the required central government savings targets."

Diana Johnson, Labour MP for Hull North expressed concern about the speed and scale of the cuts.

She said: "Humberside has already seen a fall in police numbers in recent months. But with the heaviest Government cuts still to take effect this is just the thin end of the wedge."

Further cuts are expected in subsequent years, starting with a further £11.1m in 2012/13.