County losing 149 police officers

The force said only 40 front line jobs would be lost

Police chiefs have revealed plans to axe 149 jobs in South Yorkshire over the next year.

The force said tough constraints on its budget meant it would not be replacing staff who leave through retirement, transfers and resignations.

But it claimed that plans to move officers from backroom jobs and put them back on the beat meant only 40 frontline posts would be lost.

The county's police federation said officers were already under pressure.

'Difficulty coping'

Federation chairman Insp Bob Pitt said: "I just worry, and I know we as a police federation worry, about the resilience that we are going to be left with as police forces if the numbers go down very much more.

"Already, and even before we see these reductions in numbers, the people that we represent tell me that they are having difficulty coping, that it's a busy, busy job out there."

The force said a one-year recruitment freeze was now in place.

It said the reduction in the number of officers was likely to be met from natural wastage, either through retirements transfers to other forces or resignations.

There are 105 officers who are eligible to retire from the force in the next 12 months.

And specialist civilian staff will be employed to free up officers from back office and administrative duties so they can be put back on the front line.

'Tough times'

The cost-cutting exercise will take the number of officers in South Yorkshire from 3,280 to 3,131 by March next year.

A report by the police authority said 102 police constable jobs would be axed, along with the posts of 24 detective constables, 15 police sergeants, one detective sergeant, six inspectors and two chief inspectors.

Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said: "Whilst it is difficult to balance the budget in these tough economic times, meeting this challenge causes us to focus on our highest priorities.

"Over the last four years South Yorkshire Police has continuously made substantial savings while delivering better performance.

"In the last year alone we saved �7.2m while delivering the lowest overall crime figures for three years.

"This coming year, despite the savings needed, we have set challenging performance targets and expect to meet them."

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