Shropshire's crime commissioner in vow on burglaries amid cuts

It comes after Sara Thornton, head of the new National Police Chiefs' Council, said officers' priorities were changing in response to budget cuts and the changing face of crime.

She said the public should no longer expect police officers to turn up at their door if they are burgled.

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner Bill Longmore said he fully understood her position – but pledged to do all he could to ensure people in Shropshire continued to get the service they needed from police. He said: "I fully understand Sara Thornton's position.

"Like a lot of public bodies, the government has set the police service some tough financial challenges in recent years, and I think forces nationwide expect the government to continue reducing its funding in the years to come.

"Inevitably, that means forces nationwide are having to continually re-design and re-evaluate policing and local priorities. However, each force and each area is different.

"In West Mercia we have tried to be responsible with our finances and efficiencies up to this point, mindful of more challenges to come.

"I'm very confident that we are in a good position, certainly compared to many others, to meet these financial challenges whilst sustaining levels of service to the public. It would be a very sad day indeed if the public anywhere lost faith in their local police service.

"With that in mind, It's important that people feel confident that if they report a crime, then it will be properly investigated, and they will get the service they need from their police.

"To me, that is a key commitment to the public, and one that I wouldn't want to see compromised anywhere, least of all in West Mercia."

Mr Longmore was speaking after Chief Constable Thornton, Britain's most senior policewoman, admitted that if someone had an iPad stolen from their home "it could be" that an officer would not be dispatched to investigate.

Ms Thornton, who is often described as David Cameron's favourite police officer after her eight years as his constituency police chief, said that instead officers were focusing on child sex offences, cyber crime and terrorism.

She said: "Crime is changing in this country. There are a lot less burglaries than there used to be, a lot less car crime, but the sorts of crimes that are on the increase – sexual offences, concerns about terrorism, cyber crime – that's where we really need to focus.

"We need to move from reacting to some of those traditional crimes to thinking about focusing on threat and harm and risk and really protecting the public.

"If we're really serious about putting a lot of effort and resource into protecting children, for example, that might mean that if you've had a burglary, for example, and the burglar has fled, we won't get there as quickly as we have in the past."

Ms Thornton said the police had lost 70,000 posts over ten years and had endured 25 per cent budget cuts.