Gloucestershire police won’t see a drop in performance despite cutting 60 staff jobs over the next year. That is the pledge from Temporary Chief Constable Maggie Blyth who says the force is facing some tough decisions in plugging Gloucestershire Constabulary’s £12.3m funding gap.

Around 30 to 40 police community support officers (PCSOs) are being made redundant and the force’s mounted unit is being transferred to West Midlands Police.

The force said it is committed to focussing on what matters most to the public in tackling crime. And despite these reductions in PCSOs, the constabulary is looking to increase the number of police officers.

They will fill vacancies in crime command to bolster investigations, particularly in public protection, child abuse teams and for neighbourhood crime.

The constabulary will implement a rapid improvement plan over the next year.

This will set out how they intend to transform some of our work, continue to provide an effective service, and improve their performance.

“We will not see any drop in our performance,” Temporary Chief Constable Blyth said.

“We have to maintain performance in 999 calls, in how we investigate crimes.

“The charge rates from everything from burglaries, tackling serious organised crime, through to domestic abuse.

“We are under immense scrutiny with that.” She said the plan is very much ensuring our focus is on what the public expects of them.

“Our job is to reduce crime, cut crime and respond to 999 and 101 calls.

“The most important message from me, and the reassurance that I want to give all of our communities is that we will continue to answer our 999 calls, investigate crime and be there in our local communities in a very focused and strong way.

“You can expect our frontline services to be protected and you can expect our service to continue to improve.”