Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Paul Gibson warns of £57m deficit for underfunded force
The leader of Lincolnshire Police has warned that the force could face a £57 million deficit in the next three years if it continues "in its current guise".
Paul Gibson, who took over the chief constable role from Chris Haward about six months ago, explained that the force has been a victim of "structural underfunding", solidifying its reputation as one of the worst-funded in the country per resident.
Earlier this month, Chief Con Gibson and Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones (Conservative) urged the county's MPs to back their campaign for fairer funding. The MPs later agreed to raise the issue with the newly-appointed policing minister, Dame Diana Johnson.
During an interview at Lincolnshire Police HQ in Nettleham, the chief constable - who started his career in Grantham in 1998 - explained the severity of the current situation.
He stated: "I’ve been focusing on the finances and the medium-term financial plan and, therefore, how we balance the books over three years. When you see the deficit, if we continue in our current guise, in three years time, we'll have a £57 million deficit which clearly can’t happen.
"When you look at the root causes of that, it’s structural underfunding. In Lincolnshire, we have 155 officers per 100,000 population, and that goes up to around 400 in urban areas, but some of the rural areas not too far from us get up to 270 officers per 100,000, that’s nearly twice as many.
"If you can imagine the good stuff the force does now, and then stick another 1,000 officers or the equivalent staff on top of that, what fantastic things we could do."
Moving forward, Chief Con Gibson hopes to address the issue through two possible routes.
Firstly, he wants to bring changes to the national funding formula for police forces in England and Wales—something PCC Jones has been campaigning for—insisting it uses population statistics from 2013 and demographics such as the number of pubs per square mile.
Alternatively, they are also considering pursuing an interim settlement from the government.
Chief Con Gibson continued: "When you look at the fairness of the allocation of the funding, how can it be so different?
"Lincolnshire residents, quite rightly, deserve and expect the best standards of service. We do well with what we’ve got, but we could do much much better with a fair and equitable distribution of funding."
The chief constable also acknowledged how "troubling" the government's early release scheme for prisoners could be for the public and victims of crime.
The Ministry of Justice recently explained that it was necessary as it has "inherited prisons in crisis and on the brink of collapse". Nevertheless, Chief Con Gibson assured residents that the impact would be minimal in our area.
He said: "I can see from the public point of view and also from the victim’s point of view, it's going to be troubling and worrying for them.
"When we see the situation locally here, we’re obviously working very closely with national policing and our local partners and the resources we have within the force, to make sure we are assessing the position and responding accordingly.
"Actually, the impact in Lincolnshire is relatively low. However, we are keeping a very watchful eye."
Reflecting on his first six months in the job, Gibson ended the interview on a positive note, describing it as "fantastic".
"I’m a big fan of this force; I spent about 19 years here, and to come back and lead the force where I started my career is absolutely great.
"What’s really great about this force is the people—they really do go the extra mile—and although I’ve been away for a little while, coming back that magic is still there.
"We’ve got work to do, but what a great foundation to start from."
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