Level of policing in Lincolnshire branded a ‘joke’ by former officer

The level of policing in this area has been branded a ‘joke’ by a former officer.

Lincolnshire Police has revealed, after a Freedom of Information request lodged by LincsOnline, that it has a total of 1,222 officers based in the county’s four districts to police a population of about 751,200. While the overall figure is up on last year, some areas of the county have still seen a cut in their officer numbers.

And the area with the least number of officers is South Holland, which has seen its manpower cut from an already-low level over the last two years.

Lincolnshire Police have defended the figures by stating that this provides a ‘snapshot’ of a day in October.

The cash-strapped force has been forced to reduce its number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) from 90 to 50 in order to meet a £10million budget black hole.

Lincolnshire remains the lowest funded force in the country with the fewest officers and staff per head of population. Separate police date showed the number of police per 100,000 people in Lincolnshire to be just 155 compared to an England and Wales average of 252. Neighbours such as Norfolk (207), Northamptonshire (193) and Cambridgeshire (193) all have higher levels.

Get the news delivered straight to your inbox every morning - sign up to The Briefing here

“It is a joke. I can’t describe it in any better than that. It’s truly pathetic. You never see a police officer and about.” said former officer and Spalding resident Nick Carter.

We submitted a Freedom of Information request to Lincolnshire Police to ask for the number of officers based in the county’s four districts and have compared this with figures released to us in 2022.

Overall the county has recruited an additional 310 officers since the figures released in 2022, when the force had 912 officers manning its four districts.

The 2023 numbers released show:

Lincoln and West Lindsey – 611 officers

The Kestevens (formerly North and South Kesteven) – 250 officers

East Lindsey – 173 officers

Boston and South Holland – 188 officers.

The 2022 figures were:

Lincoln and West Lindsey – 265

North and South Kesteven – 247

East Lindsey – 194

Boston and South Holland – 206

The biggest increase in officers have been seen in the Lincoln and West Lindsey police area - but the losers in the 2023 have been Boston and South Holland.

This district has lost a total of 18 officers over the last two years – which could be partly explained by the loss of the PCSOs.

South Holland alone had a total of 77 officers based in the district in 2022 but this has now dropped to 68.

Mr Carter, who worked for the force in Surrey, said: “If you have 68 officers working in this area in total – how do they know what is going on? They haven’t got any clue.

“They don’t provide the service that the public service or require in any level.

“I would say that is down to a multitude of things from direction of supervisors and attitude from the Government.”

Unison officials predict that police forces in the East Midlands will be facing a combined budget shortfall of almost £50 million by 2026.

The data, based on medium-term financial plans submitted by individual police forces to their local police and crime panels, reveals drastic cuts to the spending they had planned.

The worst affected force in the East Midlands is Lincolnshire (£16.4m), followed by Nottinghamshire (£16.3m) and Leicestershire (£9.4m). Together the three will have a combined budget deficit of £42.1m by 2026.

UNISON East Midlands regional secretary Chris Jenkinson said: “Without more funding to plug these huge budget shortfalls, public confidence in the police will continue to fall.

“With fewer police staff to investigate cases and smaller numbers of police and community support officers patrolling local neighbourhoods, there’s a risk crime rates will climb.

“Severe cuts to police budgets will leave many forces in the East Midlands unable to protect communities or bring criminals to justice.

“Policing will become that much harder and staff will be left feeling increasingly anxious about their futures.

“These figures are yet another warning sign that policing is in deep crisis. Ministers must ensure forces can afford to recruit the right staff to fulfil their duties so officers can be out on the streets keeping people and their communities safe.”

A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police has defended the figures – although disputed using the numbers in the way revealed by our FOI request.

He said: “The figures for officer numbers for 2023 cannot be provided as we do not hold data on police officer numbers in that way. This is due to fluctuations in staffing throughout the year as a result of retirement, resignation, or new staff joining.

“The data provided was taken from a review of police officer numbers employed on the specific date of 17 October and represents a ‘snapshot’ in time of police officer numbers for that day. Please be advised that if the data was collated on a different day, the results may be different.”

We did approach Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones for comment but he did not wish to contribute.

What do you think about policing levels in Lincolnshire? Post your views in the comments below