MORE\u00a0than 1,500 South Yorkshire Police roles could be cut over the next five years, it has been warned.<\/p>\n
As many as 500 policing officers,\u00a01,000\u00a0members of police\u00a0staff and 150 Police Community Support Officer\u00a0positions\u00a0may go.<\/p>\n
This is on top of the near 800 officers lost since 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we carry on doing the same work we were doing in 2007, let alone meet the new and increased demand that is out there?” said Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation.<\/p>\n
Mr Bowles said the consequences of the budget cuts would be “less officers on the streets, more instances of officers in cars and less neighbourhood officers”.<\/p>\n
The force said its required savings of \u00a359 million by 2020 “will only be achieved by reducing officer and staff numbers”.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings described the potential 1,500 job losses as the “worst case scenario”.<\/p>\n
He said no decisions had been made on which areas of force operations would be cut and he wanted a public discussion on how South Yorkshire Police could make savings with new ways of working.<\/p>\n
“There may be better ways of doing things that are more cost efficient,” he told BBC Radio Sheffield.<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day, there will be an impact on numbers – there is no question of that.”<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief Constable Andy Holt said: “We are working hard to minimise the impact of this decrease, but with around 90% of the force’s budget spent on salaries, we have to review our staffing levels to make such extensive savings.”<\/p>\n