Lincolnshire Police will be “crippled” without additional funding, the Police and Crime Commissioner has warned.
Marc Jones has revealed that 450 staff will be cut over the next three years, unless additional financing can be secured.
The Conservative PCC said: “They’re the people who do vital functions for policing such as answering the phones and managing files for the CPS (Crime Prosecution Service).
“They do a whole raft of things that making policing work. Losing a quarter of our staff would cripple the force.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Jones, said the force is facing a funding shortfall of £2.5m this year.
He added: “The government gave us roughly £5m (more) but gave us costs of seven and a half million pounds (more). What they’re actually given me is minus two and a half million pounds this year.
“That’s not extra, that’s less. That’s a real problem for us”
The force has recently cancelled this year’s recruitment scheme because it can no longer afford to take on new officers.
This comes on the back of the number of PCSOs reducing from 150 to 50 since 2010, according to the PCC.
The force recently won the right to challenge the funding formula at the High Court.
Mr Jones said: “I’m still in discussion with the Home Office to avoid that decision. What I’m after is to fund the police properly.
“If we can come to an accommodation to avoid that decision then I’m very much happy to work in that way.”
Marc Jones said difficult decisions will have to be made if the government doesn’t step and provide emergency funding.
He said: “We need to improve the sustainability of our finances because that hampers our ability to plan effectively.
If you’re constantly having to plan year-by-year rather than for the longer term then that is not an effective way of running an organisation like a police service.”
Mr Jones also spoke about the scourge of rising shoplifting rates and the devastating impact on local businesses.
He said: “I’ve worked in retail. I’ve faced those assaults myself. I’ve got friends that work in retail that face it every day.
“I know and understand what it’s like and you shouldn’t be fearful of going to work, often for what can be minimum wage jobs.”
He added: “I very much empathise with the people in that space and agree more needs to be done. We are working to improve the way shoplifting is recorded.”
This comes after Lincolnshire Co Op gave its staff body camera following a surge in abuse against staff.
Mr Jones also said that violence against women and girls continues to be a major problem in the county.
“We know that’s a real problem nationally and Lincolnshire isn’t exempt from that. It’s a societal problem to be tackled and that cannot be done by the police alone.
“This is about educating boys in schools and educating girls not to put up with certain behaviours. It’s making sure that public venues have processes in place to notice certain kind of behaviours and we have some notable places that are working with us on that.”
Speaking about police finding, former police officer and Labour candidate for last year’s PCC Election, Mike Horder said he thought police finances were being mismanaged.
He said: “The police are in a bad position and I’ve seen it where the civilian staff have been made redundant from areas like Case File Preparation which does make life very difficult.
“We need to make sure that Lincolnshire Police is well managed, well running, making good use of resources.”
He added: “These need to be improved and I think we will see over the years the Labour government as money becomes available improving resourcing of the police.”
A Home Office spokesperson said it was unable to comment because of on-going legal proceedings.
