Home Office figures released today show that Cambridgeshire Police have cut police staff by 17% in the last 12 months -; a much higher proportion than in neighbouring forces.

Chair of Cambridge Labour Party Daniel Zeichner says that such dramatic reductions will have an impact on local policing:

“While there is an understandable desire to maintain visible front-line policing, cutting police staff so dramatically will make it tough for police and police support officers to do their job effectively. Cambridgeshire has also lost proportionately more full time police officers than other forces in Eastern England. These cuts are a direct consequence of decisions made by the Government that have put local police authorities in an impossible position. They run the real risk of undoing the excellent progress made over the last decade in cutting crime in Cambridgeshire.”