Spending Review: Police chief warns of job cuts

The chief constable of Lincolnshire Police has warned the number of police officers in the county will be cut as a result of the Spending Review.

Richard Crompton said his force was looking to save £20m over the next four years.

It is not yet known how much money Lincolnshire Police will be getting under the government's funding formula.

Mr Crompton said about 70 officers and 100 support staff were likely to be lost.

Wednesday's Spending Review saw Chancellor George Osborne outline government plans to save £81bn over the next few years.

Management posts

It will be another six weeks before the force knows how much money it will receive from the government.

But Mr Crompton said he would have to reduce police numbers from the 1,200 officers currently employed.

He said: "We anticipate something in the region of 70 [posts] will be lost to us.

"We've got about 1,000 members of support staff as well and again the anticipation is something in the region of 80 to 100 of those posts will be lost.

"That's subject to those things that are still unknown but those are the assumptions that I'm working on at the moment.

"I think over the next year to 18 months that will see a further reduction in senior management positions - both police officer positions and senior members of support staff as well."