Roads policing officers in Hampshire drop by a third

POLICE have insisted they have officers available to tackle crimes on the road as figures show a reduction of a third.

Roads policing figures in Hampshire have dropped from 149 to 104, the data obtained by the Press Association said.

The force has this year opted to put more officers on duty during peak times, leaving fewer on duty in the evenings.

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But Chief Inspector Mark Lewis, said: ‘We are constantly reviewing our shift patterns to ensure that our resources are as closely aligned to demand as possible, and we have the right people on duty, at the right time, when they are needed the most.

‘Hampshire Constabulary’s Roads Policing Unit is part of the Joint Operations Unit together with Thames Valley Police. The JOU is the culmination of a number of specialist units, include Roads Policing, across Hampshire and Thames Valley who work together as one team.

‘This means we are able to call on resources from anywhere within the two force areas, and therefore have a much larger number of officers at our disposal at any one time than the statistics show.’