THE Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police has said the force is not set to lost 400 officers despite claims made by Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld at the weekend.

Mr Stansfeld told the Sunday Telegraph he would be forced to get rid of one in every 10 police officers because of government cuts.

But today Ms Thornton said: “While I agree that the prospects for the next spending review are bleak, may I reassure the public that we are not poised to lose 400 officers.

“We need to find another £20 million of cuts by 2018 but I and the Police and Crime Commissioner will be doing everything we can to find those cuts elsewhere and maintain police officer numbers as much as possible.”

Mr Stansfeld told the Sunday Telegraph he could not see any other way of saving £20 million.

He said: “Each £1 million we have to lose equates to around 20 police officers.

“That means we are on course to lose 400 police officers out of the 4,000 currently in the force.

“It’s extraordinary that the Home Office thinks we can just keep on cutting. I think it has gone too far.

“There is a real crush coming. Not just in our force, but in others as well.”

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