Street police going, chief warns

Chief Constable Roger Baker said police were disappearing from streets

Too many police officers have been taken off the streets, a chief constable has said.

Roger Baker, head of Essex Police, spoke as he announced plans to employ 600 more police officers in Essex.

The chief constable said he was looking at ways to boost cash without adding to council tax or losing civilian staff.

"My fear is in the next 10 or 15 years or so there will be virtually no sworn police officers on the streets of this country," Mr Baker said.

"And I don't think that's a healthy situation for us to find ourselves in.

"When push comes to shove what do you want? The office of the constable is special and precious."

Mr Baker said he also had reservations about the closure of police stations across the East.

Plans backed

"I have never seen a paper which says we should close police stations. Yet in the past 25 years we have been closing police stations like nobody's business," Mr Baker said.

"I have not seen anything written anywhere that says if you ring the police then we simply give you a crime number instead of coming to see you.

"I have been in the police service for 31 years and people are not saying anything now that is much different to what they were saying 31 years ago.

"They want to see more cops active in their area dealing with nuisance, disorder issues and criminality. That is what they are telling us.

"I take the view that we are taking too many police officers off the street in this country and it's not going to happen in Essex."

Essex Police Authority said it supported plans for additional officers.

Robert Chambers, authority chairman, said: "[This] will undoubtedly give the public an improved service, a better customer experience when they contact us and an increased presence on our streets.

"We will continue to work with our partners to develop various options for funding, so that the cost does not fall on the Essex taxpayer."