| By :
Martin Hofschroer
A report into Britain's police forces has discovered areas where the service can save millions of pounds. The Sustaining value for money in the police report by Chief Inspector Sir Denis O'Connor, the Audit Commission and the Wales Audit Office found that significant savings can be made if regional forces share departments. Budget cuts suggest that the police may have to reduce spending by as much as 25 per cent and necessary savings could be made by merging departments such as human resources, according to the report. Sir Denis said that there needs to be a "total redesign" of how police officers operate in order to improve customer service by increasing public visibility of constabulary on the streets. Sir Denis suggested that police officers could change their shift patterns to make themselves available for more Fridays and weekends following the performance improvement consultancy. Savings have already been made by the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire police services which saved £3.3 million by sharing a Major Crimes Unit. Surrey Police also saved £1.5 million last year by centralising its human resources departments and the report is encouraging more forces to replicate such cost efficient measures. O'Connor said: "The challenge for the police service is to reduce spending without reducing public confidence. "Our reports show that whilst some forces are getting ready for the budget cuts we know are inevitable, many forces have yet to make adequate preparations." The report found that from 1997/8 to 2008/9 police spending increased by 47 per cent to £13.7 billion and during the same period the number of police officers increased by 14 per cent to 16,900. In addition, spending on police staff such as PCSOs increased by 92 per cent to £3.2 billion from 1997/8 to 2008/9, while spending on police officers rose by £7.8 billion over the same amount of time. Other areas where savings can be made include a focus on the procurement of vehicles and a reduction in the number of managers and chief superintendents, which could save the budget £20 million. Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said that while cuts were necessary it was important to preserve frontline services. "In the current fiscal climate, economies need to be made, but everything must be done to protect frontline services which ensure the public gets the service the public wants," he added. The report discovered that recorded crime has decreased by 22 per cent since 2003/04 and experience of crime has fallen by 45 per cent from 1995.
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