Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, today called for a fairer financial settlement for Dorset Police.
In speech to the House of Commons on Wednesday, the MP told of years of “chronically low levels of Government funding.”
Combined with unnecessarily restrictive ring fencing of budgets – as in the case of Police Community Support Officers - this left Dorset Police with very little room to manoeuvre, said Drax.
Benchmarking studies had shown that Dorset Police spends far less than the national average on “back office services”, he said.
“My concern is that, following the announcement, Dorset Police will experience further cuts, following year-on-year cuts over the past 10 years, and despite being told that they were doing an excellent job.
“Every time they were told they were doing an excellent job, the Chief Constable had less money with which to do it!”
Drax also pointed out that in the Olympic year, 2012, Dorset Police faces a projected £6.4m shortfall in funding.
They had been assured that funding for an estimated 600 extra officers to police the sailing Olympics at Portland was there, said Drax, “but there is no definitive amount.”
Each request for manpower or equipment – divided into 16 different funding ‘silos’ - had to be sent up to a central authority, “which makes planning and preparation difficult and drawn out,” said Drax.
“For example, deciding whether to place a man or a camera on a strategic corner can take weeks.”
In the same speech, the MP for South Dorset gave his backing to the Coalition’s commitment to a revival of neighbourhood policing.
He said: “We must get officers back into their local communities. At the right moment, a firm word and gentle guidance can head off a life behind bars.
“In the long run, the cost of reopening local stations would be offset against reductions in crime and imprisonment and would allow police to reconnect with the communities they serve.”