Fuel costs won't affect service, say police

2:08pm Wednesday 2nd July 2008

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WILTSHIRE Police are reassuring the public the force will not be reducing the number of officers in the force or cutting down the number of patrols in light of spiralling fuel costs.

Reports in the national press have indicated a number of the UK's forces, including Wiltshire Police, were ordering officers to limit vehicle patrols and were slashing their recruitment budgets due to the rising costs of running their vehicle fleets.

But Mark Wilton, Wiltshire Police's director of human resources, has said the reports were inaccurate and the county's police recruitment program will not be affected by the cost of fuel.

He said: "Recruitment at Wiltshire Police is not being affected by the rising fuel costs.

"The number of police officers has continued to rise and in recent months we have had two intakes of 30 officers.

"We have planned to increase our police staff numbers by approximately 50 posts over the next 12 months and these plans remain unchanged.

"An inference that Wiltshire Police mobile patrols will have mileage restrictions is mere speculation and no such instruction has been given or is envisaged."

A number of the UK's forces are experiencing financial difficulties because each police force's annual budget is drawn up more than a year in advance and current budgets could not have taken into account the astronomical rise in fuel costs over the past 12 months.

This has left a number of forces having to siphon money from their existing funds, meaning many have had to look towards making cuts.

Speaking last week, a spokesman for the Police Federation said: "All the fat has already been trimmed off police budgets.

"For a lot of forces, there is nothing left to cut except officer numbers."