Cuts end lost property collection in Kent

Kent Police will no longer be accepting lost property as a result of budget cuts.

Kent police and crime commissioner (PCC) Ann Barnes said the decision, which will come into effect in June, is a direct result of the “inevitable consequences of savage cuts to police funding and police staff numbers”.

Forces are not required by law to manage lost property but have always done so historically.

Ms Barnes says the decision was an operational one taken by Chief Constable Alan Pughsley.

“I understand his decision and members of the public I have spoken to about the change have actually been very balanced and pragmatic about it – they support the police and they recognise they cannot continue to do it all,“ she said.

From June, Kent Police will only accept recovered property which poses a risk to the public, such as identification, firearms and items believed to be associated with crime.

A spokesperson for the force said people who find lost property are advised to take reasonable steps to reunite it with its rightful owner, such as advertising its discovery on social media and putting posters up locally.

Ms Barnes says so far, the force has had to make savings equating to 20 per cent of its operating budget. It is believed that by 2019 it will have to make a further £61 million cut. Therefore in cases where the police have no statutory responsibility “use of finite resources has to be seriously looked at”.

“It’s about what services local people expect from their police force, given the resources it is allocated. Officer numbers have already been reduced in the hundreds, as have police staff, with more inevitably to come,” she added.

“Demand on the police has continued to rise. The 101 telephone number has made it easier than ever to contact the police, and many more people do. As other public sector agencies have coped with their own budget cuts and reduced services this has piled additional pressure on the police as the ‘service of last resort’.

“Kent Police has done a really good job of maintaining service levels in the county despite the massive cuts. But let’s be in no doubt, the force is under enormous and increasing pressure, and before the next round of cuts take full effect we need to take a long hard look at what our police force is for and what we can reasonably expect them to do for us with ever diminishing resources.”

Speaking to BBC Radio Kent chair of Kent Police Federation Ian Pointon said the force cannot afford to do everything it previously has.

“This is just a very small tip of a much bigger iceberg of things that the police are going to have to stop doing,” he said.