“SAVAGE cuts” are bringing policing in the region to its knees and taking the service back to the 1980s, the Police Federation has warned.

In a snapshot of activity on a chosen Thursday morning, the seven north-east forces – which includes West, North and South Yorkshire, as well as Northumbria, Durham, Cleveland and Humberside – were dealing with more than 4,000 outstanding calls for service or open incidents, 144 missing persons and 269 prisoners in custody.

Nick Smart, chairman of West Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “These figures of a typical midweek day show that demand is massively outstripping resources.

“Before we start every day, we are playing catch up in terms of dealing with calls.

“It’s not just about crime, the impact of having to look for missing vulnerable people places a huge burden on already stretched resources.

“Despite the political rhetoric from Government, we are not just crime fighters. We are picking up the burden of many other areas of work from other agencies.

“This is against a backdrop of continually reducing numbers. The savage cuts imposed on the police service are bringing the service to its knees. We are going back to the days of reactive only policing of the mid 1980s. This is not good for the service or the public.”

In July, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed recorded crime increased by ten per cent nationally in the previous twelve months with an 18 per cent rise in violent crime.

Since 2010, West Yorkshire Police has lost 1,038 officers and in the north east, officer numbers have reduced by 19 per cent with the loss of 3,736 officers across the region.

The federation says increasing and unrealistic workloads set against a backdrop of increased crime and reducing officer numbers is taking its toll on police officers.

A recent pay and morale survey found 85 per cent of respondents from West Yorkshire Police felt they were paid unfairly in the face of strains and stresses of their job.

Mr Smart described the recent pay award announcement as “underhand” and said Chief Constables would have to pay for it out of current budgets.

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Thanks to additional money raised locally through police council tax we are in the process of recruiting more officers and staff which should help lessen the workload on the existing workforce.”

He added this would not be a replacement for central funding and the Government needs to act to ensure the pressure on officers and staff is eased.

Mr Burns-Williamson said the pay award announcement “falls short” of what is required to recognise the work of the police and public services in general.