CRIME can fall despite a cut in front line police numbers, a minister insisted as he visited Oxford yesterday.

Police and Criminal Justice Minister Nick Herbert made the vow as he met Thames Valley Police’s Chief Constable Sara Thornton to discuss 14 per cent budget cuts.

Yet the force’s rank-and-file professional body said the service would be hit particularly hard as it has fewer officers than most other forces.

The move will slash officer numbers by 109 by April from 4,251 across the force and 857 in Oxfordshire.

He said: “The chief constable wants to protect the front line, and I think cuts can be made in the back office and middle office more effectively.

“If you look at New York over the last decade their force has contracted by 10 per cent, but crime has fallen over the same period.”

He added: “It is not just a question of the amount of money; it is how well it is spent.”

Asked whether the cuts in police funding would cause an increase in crime, the minister replied: “Certainly not.”

Ms Thornton said she could not confirm the total number of job losses until the force got its final cash settlement in December.

She said bobbies would spend more time on the beat by spending less time on paperwork.

She said: “It is going to be tough and people will lose jobs.

“There will be fewer officers, but we want to ensure the proportion of officers on the streets in uniform will be greater.”

Home Office figures show Thames Valley ranks 34th out of 43 forces nationwide for the number of officers per head of population.

The pull of the Metropolitan Police is often seen as a reason for this.

Thames Valley Police Authority was told on Friday the reductions are needed to save £3.3m by April.

It is also bidding to slash millions by cutting overtime and sharing services such as dog handling with Hampshire Constabulary.

And it will scrap five basic command units covering four counties to take out management costs.

That means police in Oxford will no longer be answerable to an Oxfordshire-wide level of management.

The future of Oxfordshire’s police commander, Chief Superintendent Brendan O’Dowda, has yet to be determined.

Ms Thornton said: “We have got to really work out how to reduce levels of bureaucracy.

“It has caused us a huge amount of work to try to make sure that cuts do not fall on what the public really value and where we really do act to protect the public.”

Andy Viney, of the Thames Valley branch of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: “Common sense dictates that at some point we will find we are unable to provide the service we want to.

“As a starting point, the Thames Valley already has one of the lowest population-to-police ratios in the country.

“If you start cutting police officers it means we are exacerbating an already unhealthy position.”

Bureaucracy had already been stripped back, he said.