New West Mercia Chief Constable David Shaw calm about future

The public should not panic about cuts to the police budget, the new chief constable of West Mercia Police has said.

David Shaw took on the role at the start of the week after being promoted from deputy chief constable.

He admitted that there will be challenges for the force in meeting the Government's savings targets, but added that the cuts needed to be put into perspective.

"The cuts are tough but this takes us back to the spending levels in real terms of 2003/04. I have been a police officer for a long time and the public weren't saying they didn't have confidence in us then," he said.

"It is tough for all of the public sector at the moment."

Under the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review announced last year, West Mercia has been required to find about £30 million of savings, starting from April 2011. In the first two years of the cutbacks, a spending reduction of £17.4 million is required of the force.

These savings are in addition to the £9.8 million in cuts it had already identified.

A statement by the force following the CSR review announcement said: "Where possible we will continue to manage this reduction through natural staff turnover and maintaining a freeze on external recruitment. This, along with careful management of our resources, has and will continue to generate significant savings.

"Unfortunately, these actions alone will not be enough. Redundancy will be a last resort but it is an option that we may have to consider in some areas."

Mr Shaw said that he could not yet say precisely how many jobs would be lost in the West Mercia region, as the force was currently in the process of developing an alliance with the Warwickshire force that will allow them to share some services and make savings as a result.

He added that whatever the challenges of the future, he was determined to do his best for the people of Shropshire and the whole of the West Mercia region.

By Chris Burn