THE chief constable of Essex says he may be forced to cut 200 officers and staff unless his force receives extra funding, adding "To put it bluntly, the books don't balance."

CC Ben-Julian Harrington was speaking after hearing of the government's funding plans, with the Home Office saying the county allocation would be £406.2m over the next year.

That, says the region's top cop, means a £34m shortfall in the next financial year. He added the difference would have to be made up by staff cuts. 

"To put it bluntly, the books don't balance," CC Harrington said and he added that having saved £42m in the past five years, his force "has squeezed the lemon pretty dry".

He said he had written a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper - co-signed by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, Roger Hirst - to raise concerns about the financial position.

He said there could be a "reduction of about 200 officers" due to the budget shortfall, but that no decisions had been made yet.

Essex Police currently employs more than 3,750 officers

"We'll still be here, protecting and serving the people of Essex, but there'll be less of us," the Chief Constable said. "I don't want to scare people, but that's a real consequence of the budget settlement as I understand it to date.

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"This is not 'fag-packet maths': this is audited accounts, properly scrutinised.

"We know what we're talking about, we know what it costs, and if you don't give me the money, I can't do all the things that the public would want me to do."

He said his force may be less able to deal with lower-level crimes, such as anti-social behaviour, if cutbacks were made.

"Officers might not be able to deal with some of those things that are no less important to the people who report them, but are perhaps less priority if you compare them to deaths or prevention of more serious and violent crime", he concluded.