Cambridgeshire Police Federation chair Liz Groom fears the provisional police funding settlement for 2022/23 is not enough to meet the demands of modern policing.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has published details of the provisional settlement, with policing receiving an extra £1.1 billion next year. It represents a seven per cent increase on last year’s figures.
The money Cambridgeshire Police receives from the Government will rise from £155.8 million in 2020/21 to £165m in 2021/22 and then to £173.7m in 2022/23.
Liz said: “While we welcome the Government’s commitment to increase funding for policing in Cambridgeshire, it won’t be enough to meet the growing demands placed on our members.
“We’re facing emerging and complex crimes, such as cyber-crime, human trafficking and fraud, as well as more traditional crimes and our day-to-day policing duties as well.
“Add into the mix the policing the pandemic and it’s a heavy burden our members are being expected to meet and we need the proper funding and resources to do that.
“Policing has taken a huge hit during austerity. As well as cuts in the number of officers, we’ve seen the infrastructure that supports them decimated.
“So while we welcome the Government’s drive to recruit more officers, it won’t take us back to pre-austerity levels and it won’t bring back the stations and offices that have been shut.
“Our members will continue on the frontline, putting themselves in harm’s way and working tirelessly for our communities, but it feels that without the adequate funding and resources, they’ll be doing it with one hand tied behind their backs.”
Ms Patel said that the additional £1.1 billion will help support the delivery of the Beating Crime Plan, which set out the Government’s mission to deliver fewer victims, safer neighbourhoods, and a more secure country.
In particular, the plan focuses on driving down homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime – to ensure that everyone can benefit from the security that a safe home, street and country provides.
She said: “Crimes including theft, burglary and knife crime are down, we’ve got an additional 11,053 police officers on our streets, and we’ve shut down 1,500 drugs lines which exploit the young and the vulnerable.
“But we must go further and faster to make our communities even safer, so today I am giving our excellent police forces and law enforcement agencies more funding to do just that, in line with our Beating Crime Plan.
“Reducing crime is a top priority for this Government and I will continue working with police leaders to ensure this unprecedented investment results in less crime and fewer victims.”