I spoke in the House of Commons last week to share my concerns about the cuts to local police services.
Many local police forces, including Thames Valley Police, have been hit by budget cuts. Locally, there have been cuts of 389 police officers and 117 police community support officers in spite of rising crime.
I expressed my concerns that these cuts to services will have a negative impact on protecting local communities. I asked the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, how he thinks such cuts will affect the police’s ability to monitor returnees from Syria.
The Home Secretary replied citing the Government’s relatively modest increase in police precepts in the council tax announcement.
It is not just politicians who are concerned about the state of our police forces.
The latest Financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales report by the National Audit Office found that forces around the country are finding it hard to deliver effective services due to financial strains.
Since 2010/11 there has been a 19% reduction in total funding given to police and crime commissioners. Excluding the local council tax support grant, the reduction in central government funding to Thames Valley Police has been 30%.

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