Police forces are facing “difficult choices” and some will “struggle to make the numbers add up” as the cost of borrowing spirals, one of Britain’s most senior police officers has warned.
Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said local forces have had no capital investment for 10 years.
Some have increasingly relied on borrowing, and the cost of debt is expected to rise by 49% in the next three years.
“Forces’ borrowing costs have been going up because for the last decade, local forces have had no capital investment at all.
“The main capital investment has gone to big projects at the centre.
“We know that to invest in the technology that they’ve needed, they’ve had to sell buildings, increase their borrowing costs. We see those rising.
“That’s not an effective way of dealing with the problem, which is why we strongly encourage more capital investment into policing.
“We think investment in artificial intelligence and new technology will help us be more effective in keeping our communities safe.
“We know that if that doesn’t change, then some forces will find it hard to make the numbers add up.”
He said forces could need to cut back on tasks they carry out for other organisations, in the same way that they have already cut back on calls related to mental health.
“Policing is going to have to make some difficult choices as a consequence of this spending review.
“Of course, at the top of our list, preventing crime, reducing crime, investigating crime, is always going to be the first thing that we do.
“But over the years, policing has attracted many tasks on behalf of other organisations that we will need to look very closely at, in the same way we’ve done with our response to mental health in recent years.
“So there are some tough choices ahead for forces.”
Details of how much funding each of the 43 forces in England and Wales will get will be decided in December.
So far 3,000 of the 13,000 extra neighbourhood officers pledged by the Government have been recruited so far, but police leaders now doubt how the remainder will be paid for.
One money-saving idea being put forward is a radical overhaul of the 43-force structure in England and Wales, to create fewer, larger forces.
“The last time we had a deliberate design of policing in England and Wales was in the early 1960s and for some time now, we’ve been advocating for significant change.
“There are forces that are finding it increasingly difficult to balance the budget, and we would say that more capable forces, bigger forces, are more likely to be financially sustainable in future.
“So we should look at all options to make sure that we can keep our community safe, not just from the threats that they face today, but the threats that we see coming down the track for the future.”
Force chiefs want greater say over how they structure their workforces, with the removal of restrictions on ring-fenced funding that was granted by the previous government to replace officers cut during austerity.
Mr Stephens said policing needs a variety of workers other than officers, including cyber specialists, crime scene investigators and digital forensic experts, in the same way that “the health service is much more than just about doctors”.
He added: “We know that the Government had some very difficult choices to make, as a consequence of this, policing is going to have some very difficult choices to make too.”
