North Yorkshire Police to axe 550 jobs

HUNDREDS of police officers and civilian staff in York and North Yorkshire are to be axed as force bosses try to balance their books.
North Yorkshire Police said yesterday that Government cuts would cost them more than £19 million in the next four years.
About 200 police officers from all ranks, from constable to chief superintendent, will be cut and police staff will be reduced by about 350.
The cuts equate to about one in four civilian employees and one in eight officers.

York Central MP Hugh Bayley said the cuts meant there was a “real danger” that crime would rise.

He said: “Cuts of this scale are bound to affect front-line services.
“When the Conservatives were last in power, crime in North Yorkshire almost doubled and we didn’t get a single additional police officer during their whole 18 years in power.”
He said he was “extremely worried” by the Government cuts, adding: “If crime rises it will cost the public much more than any savings in the cost of policing.”
Joanna Carter, the treasurer of North Yorkshire Police Authority, said North Yorkshire Police’s grant funding would be cut by £4.3 million in 2011/12 and by £5.3 million in 2012/13.
Taking into account factors such as taxation changes, inflation, and contract costs, she said the force would need to make cost savings of between £9 million and £11 million next year, and more than £19 million by 2014/15.
Every department of the force will be examined with a view to possible restructures.
She said: “The force will undergo a significant restructure to maximise efficiency while protecting front-line service delivery.
“A range of measures will be used to achieve this such as working with partners and forces across the region to drive out savings.”

Nigel Adams, Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, called the settlement “challenging but manageable”, and said the force must do everything in its power to protect effective policing.

He said: “By cutting out costs and scrapping bureaucracy we are saving hundreds of millions of pounds and hundreds of thousands of man hours – so this settlement does not need to lead to any reduction in police officers visible and available on the streets.”
The 200 officers may retire or be forced to retire under a regulation adopted by North Yorkshire Police Authority on Monday.
The Regulation A19 means that officers who have been on the force for 30 years or more can be forced to retire. Their positions would then not be filled.
The force has invited civilian staff to volunteer for redundancy, but will impose compulsory redundancies if necessary.

1,500 jobs ‘to go’

POLICE budget cuts will mean 1,500 staff will be lost over the next four years, the chief constable of West Yorkshire has said.
Sir Norman Bettison said there were 13 reviews going on within the force to consider ways of saving cash.
But he insisted front-line services would not be cut and local policing and emergency responses were a priority.

Man seriously injured in Lendal Bridge accident

A MIDDLE-AGED man has been taken to hospital with serious head and chest injuries after being knocked over by a car on Lendal Bridge tonight.

At about 7pm, the man was hit by one car and then a second car while he was on the ground.
He was treated at the scene by paramedics, but then taken to York Hospital by ambulance.
Police described the man as “very poorly”.
Lendal Bridge is currently closed to traffic and pedestrians while police collision investigators are still on scene. Blake Street was closed then reopened at about 7.20pm.
St Leonard’s Place is expected to remain closed until after 10pm with traffic being diverted onto Gillygate and Bootham.
Police said no one has been arrested in connection with the accident.

Child porn suspect Richard Dyde commits suicide

A FORMER York schoolboy and university graduate has committed suicide after being accused of involvement in an international child pornography ring.

Richard Dyde, 47, died a day after being released on bail in Canada.
He had been facing charges of making, possessing, and making available child pornography.
He was one of 57 men worldwide arrested as part of Project Sanctuary, a year-long investigation into a global child pornography network.
Mr Dyde is thought to have grown up in Acomb, York, and was a pupil at Nunthorpe Grammar School in the 1970s.
Darrell Buttery, one of Mr Dyde’s former teachers and the president of York Civic Trust, said he had stayed in touch with Mr Dyde since he left school, and said he was shocked by the news.
“It’s desperately sad news,” he said.
“He was a hugely talented pupil who was outstanding in his year.”
“He was an immensely popular boy, and had a great sense of fun.
“He was such a lovely guy. There was absolutely never any indication of any of this.
“I last saw him when he came over last year, following the publication of his book about George Cayley (the Victorian aeronautical engineer known as the father of aviation).”
According to his entry on the Friends Reunited website, Mr Dyde went to Carr County Junior School before going on to Nunthorpe. He later studied for a degree in psychology at the University of York in the 1990s before emigrating to Canada, where he worked at Toronto’s York University, and is said to have held a PhD in cognitive neuroscience.
A colleague in Canada is reported to have said Mr Dyde could not live with the news of his charges being made public, which would probably have been too much for him to bear.
Toronto Police Service said 25 children had been rescued across the world as a result of Project Sanctuary – three in Europe, ten in the USA and 12 in Canada. Of the 57 men arrested, six are in Europe.
A spokesman said undercover officers had spent a year infiltrating a worldwide network of men who were allegedly trading child sexual abuse images and videos and, in some cases, creating such images by allegedly abusing children.
“This operation is an excellent example of what can be accomplished through co-operative police work between the US and Canada,” he said.
Mr Dyde served at one time in the RAF and came from a family of aviators, with his brother and father also serving in the air force.
Mr Dyde’s biography about Cayley, published under the nom de plume Richard Dee, is said to have established the aviator’s place in history as one of the first fathers of flight and challenged the popular belief that the Wright brothers invented the airplane.
Mr Dyde is reported to have been conducting research in Canada as part of a team designing experiments to explore the impact of zero gravity on astronauts in space.