Police reshuffle due to shortage of staff

Police officers are being moved away from less urgent roles to plug a staffing shortfall in urgent response teams, a deputy chief constable said.

Lincolnshire Police plans to move about 50 officers away from neighbourhood, rural and roads policing to roles responding to 999 calls, protecting victims and investigating crime.

The six-month trial is being held in response to a shortage of staff, along with severe budget pressures.

Deputy Chief Constable Chris Davison said the changes were regrettable, but necessary "to get us through this really difficult time".

He said, although it would "inevitably" have an impact on some of the work currently undertaken by the teams losing staff, the force would do everything possible to mitigate the impact.

"Inevitably, some of those services won't be the same as they were when they were fully staffed, but I'm afraid we've had to make those difficult decisions to keep the whole county as safe as it possibly can be," DCC Davison said.

However, he stressed it was a temporary measure, with a focus on retaining some officers in the affected teams so they were able to be rebuilt "as quickly as we can as the resources return".

DCC Davison, who has served with Lincolnshire Police for more than 28 years, said he was "really proud" of how the force managed the resources at its disposal.

However, he said, in the current climate, it was about ensuring the service was as "safe as it possibly can be for the communities of Lincolnshire".

"If there were other options to get us through this really difficult time then we would have taken them," he added.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service there was a risk of an "immediate and long-lasting harm" if the teams gaining officers were not properly staffed.

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