Cuts in police officer numbers are leading directly to rises in crime, a senior police officer has warned.
Chris Weigh, deputy chief constable of Lancashire, said his force will no longer be able to maintain current levels of success which have driven offences like burglary to a 30-year low.
In a report to the Lancashire police authority Mr Weigh said that there was an upward trend in offences including break-in, assaults and vehicle crime.
“We are taking 513 officers off the streets,” Mr Weigh said. “Targeting capabilities have been hit.”
The Lancashire force hit burglars with a sustained campaign called Operation Julius, but Mr Weigh said it would not be possible to keep up the momentum.
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He added: “Operation Julius was designed to tackle burglary spikes last year. How much longer can you continue to deploy Julius-like operations when resources are falling?”
In April this year, the force recorded an eight per cent rise in serious acquisitive crime, an 8.4 per cent increase in house burglaries and a rise of 6.4 per cent in vehicle crime. Assault without injury was reported to have risen 15 per cent.
The deputy chief constable said there was a “genuine real increase in offending” which was “worrying”.
The Lancashire force has cut more than 500 officers and 150 police staff since last year as it strives to make spending cuts of £43 million by 2014.
Mr Weigh’s claim that rises in crime have come about as a result of cuts in police resources are a challenge to the Home Office view that the spending cutbacks can be achieved without impactng the front line.
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In an interview last month, Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “Is it foreseeable that crime will increase if the cuts continue to bite? Answer, yes it probably is.”
David Hanson, Labour’s policing spokesman, said it was “truly shocking [that] senior police officers are saying that this government is causing crime to rise”.
Mr Hanson added: “Theresa May and David Cameron were warned they were taking a massive risk with public safety and now we are seeing the results — 16,000 police officers are to be lost with over 5,000 ‘999’ first responders already gone. Now we are seeing categories of crime rise with personal crime rising at some of the sharpest levels seen for years.”
The Home Office said there was no direct link between cuts in police officer numbers and crime figures.
A spokesman said: “The quality and effectiveness of policing is not only about numbers — it is about how well they are deployed.
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“Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary have made clear there is no simple link between the number of front line officers and crime levels.
“As a service spending £14 billion a year the police must play their part in reducing the record budget deficit.”