It was a chance for anyone living in Leighton-Linslade, with concerns over the recent policing changes in the area, to voice their views to a panel during a public meeting in the town.
Bedfordshire Police Chief Constable Hitchcock, Chief Inspector Roberts and Police Crime Commissioner Olly Martins took to the stage to be grilled by angry members of the public who have already noticed the town change since budget cuts began.
It was held yesterday evening at the Leighton Buzzard Theatre, where around 60 people turned up to quiz the special guests over the town’s police officers move to Luton on October 1, leaving Peel Court station in Hockliffe Road practically empty.
Statistics were released during the public meeting by Chief Constable Hitchcock, who insists that overall crime is down in the county, but full details of the figures will be in the December 18 edition of the LBO.
Mr Hitchcock said: “Overall crime is down, but we know that despite all that kind of good news about crime being down that people are genuinely worried about what these cuts are doing to us and the fact that we have had to gradually change the way we do policing.”
The Chief Constable openly admitted that out of the £20m budget cuts in policing there is still £7.5m that still needs to be cut, but said: “What I can absolutely assure you is that when we get any patterns of crime we move resources to it.
“Across the county, we will have 98 less police officers. That is the reality, we have to lose 98 police officers to balance the budget over the next two years, that’s the reality of the cuts.
“What we will not do is lose the way we police, i.e we will always make sure we have a visible presence in each area, in each location, doing the right things, tackling criminality.”
Stay tuned for more about last night’s meeting online, including the reactions from the public over these announcements.
> Reporter Amanda Devlin was tweeting from the meeting, see her updates via @LBOamanda.
> What did you think about the meeting and what the Chief Constable had to say? Email news@lbobserver.co.uk