THE Advertiser highlighted on its front page the lack of PCSOs in Test Valley and the expected decline of police resources under more budget cuts. (Advertiser, ‘Worries as PCSO numbers dwindle’, August 24).

Hidden deeper in the ‘paper were two articles: one on the rise on attacks on police officers in the county (page 52, ‘Rise in attacks on police officers’) and another on the high number of people caught speeding on a rare crackdown (page 52, ‘Thousands caught speeding in crackdown’). The underlying message is a decline in police numbers, caused by continuing cuts in central government funding.

One in three bobbies on the beat in England and Wales have been axed as violent crime has surged in the last three years from 778,000 offences in 2015 to about 1.4 million to March 2018 despite official crime survey figures remaining flat. Over 7,000 neighbourhood police officers have been reassigned or left whilst PCSOs numbers have fallen by 18 per cent over the same period. In Hampshire, there are 15.2 neighbourhood police officers per 100,000 population giving a total of 301 neighbourhood police officers out of a total force of 2,835. The Metropolitan police has 33.1 per 100,000 giving a total of 2,769 which is about the size of the Hampshire force. Meanwhile, Bedfordshire has 38.2 with nearly 25 per cent of its force engaged in neighbourhood policing.

Home Office figures show a 20,000 drop in police numbers with cuts disproportionately falling on neighbourhood officers which are key to policing, protecting communities and gathering intelligence.

Public confidence in the police is linked to the number of officers on the street. The Conservative government’s position is that policing decisions sit with chief constables and police and crime commissioners. This ignores the fact that policing is largely paid for out of income tax, with a significant difference in the funding passed on to local forces by the Home Office.

Urban big-city forces do better than rural areas. The fact that Hampshire has a number of large ports, cities and an airport and coastline which all increase costs is ignored.

Sympathy for our local police and crime commissioner is however short-lived after his attempt to move £500,000 from the frontline policing to running his personal office.

Protestations by our local politicians, all Conservative, fail to impress especially when one of them is a government minister and responsible for these ongoing cuts.

One of the primary functions of government is to protect the public. Whilst the Conservative blame game goes on, we as good citizens need to continue to support our police. Councillors in Yorkshire have grown so frustrated by soaring crime rates and lack of police officers that they have invited the local force to install cardboard cut-out bobbies to provide a visible deterrent.

Luigi Gregori, Charlton Road, Andover