The future of Lincolnshire Police is being threatened by the "blunt instrument of straight percentage cuts", according to chief constable Neil Rhodes.
In a letter to the Home Secretary, which he has today made public, Mr Rhodes claimed that, on the basis of current financial projections, in 2016/17 the force will be "on the edge of viability", and in the following year "unsustainable."
He added: "Although we are working hard and innovatively to drive out further savings, our ability to make any real impact on that number simply has to be by reducing police officers and PCSOs. £10.4m equates broadly to 236 officers. To make a further reduction of police officers (or combination of officers and PCSOs) would mean significant service degradation to a level that the community would find unacceptable."
His sentiments have been echoed by Lincolnshire police and crime commissioner (PCC) Alan Hardwick, who has also written to the Home Secretary expressing his concern at the funding crisis facing the force.
Mr Hardwick claimed the current funding formula is "not fit for purpose" and that a new approach must be introduced with urgency.
He added that his ability to be responsive to local need was being "increasingly thwarted" by the lack of a fair funding settlement.
He finished his letter with a "bleak" illustration of how stretched the force is, explaining that on an average Saturday night at 11pm there are only 18 constables to deploy in the City of Lincoln and only 10 in Boston, adding: "The figures for the rest of one of the largest counties in the Country are equally bleak. I doubt that is representative of what is happening elsewhere; I hope not."
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