Residents of Epsom and Ewell will see more officers on the street despite central Government cuts to police jobs and funding, the borough’s Neighbourhood Inspector claims.

From March: Surrey Police spend almost £60,000 on advertising campaign after announcing hundreds of job cuts

Surrey Police launched ‘Policing in Your Neighbourhood’ (PIYN) this week - an overhaul of how police forces across the country operate and respond to the changing nature of crime.

Conservative cuts to the force mean Surrey Police must save £25million by 2019.

To make this saving, plans are in place to remove 234 civilian staff posts and 32 police officers during this period, and will also be merging its human resources and finance departments with Sussex Police as well as sharing its dog and helicopter sections.

In a bid to make remaining staff more effective, officers will be borough-based, with each ward having its own Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) to deal with criminal issues.

Surrey Comet:

Epsom and Ewell Neighbourhood Inspector Jackie Elkins (pictured above) remains positive about the changes and describes it as a more “cost-effective” and collaborative approach to policing that will offer “continuity of care” to victims of crime.

She said: “If anything, the public will see more police presence with more officers patrolling the area.

“The officers will have local knowledge about who is committing crimes and the places that are experiencing issues that need to be sorted out.

“Unless it is a more complex case, they will respond to the job, investigate it and carry it through to its conclusion. Victims will have continuity of care: If they go to court the officer will go with them and they will know that officer.”

Inspector Elkins explained that under PIYN Epsom and Ewell Police would work alongside councillors, hospital staff and charities to respond to welfare issues.

She said: “We also deal with absences from children’s homes, looking after vulnerable people, truancy from school and other welfare issues.

“We need to think about whether we are the best agency to deal with these problems.”

She also said that PIYN would be “continually reviewed and evaluated”.

Inspector Elkins explained: “It is a flexible model built for the future and designed to withstand further savings if required.

”I think the main focus is to maintain frontline police officers. I think that (cuts to frontline staff) will be a last resort.”

This week, it also emerged that there had been a sharp rise in the number of police officers taking long-term sick leave for psychological reasons.

Figures released to BBC Radio 5 live under the Freedom of Information Act this week, show cases increased from 4,544 in 2010-11 to 6,129 in 2014-15 despite police workforces shrinking.

Che Donald, lead on mental health for the Police Federation of England and Wales, said this was because of police officers “working in highly stressful, fast-moving environments”, and that it was being exacerbated by declining police numbers.

He said: "There have been unprecedented cuts to police officer numbers since 2010, with the force losing 17,000 officers. However, the demand placed on the police service has not decreased.

“We know that this increase in demand on serving officers is having an impact on an overstretched and overworked police service.

“We are now seeing more officers needing to take time off for mental health reasons. They are often working in highly stressful, fast-moving environments along with being exposed to horrific situations which takes its toll."

For more information on Policing in Your Neighbourhood, visit www.surrey.police.uk

Surrey Police encourage residents to consider using the online reporting system for reporting anti-social behaviour, littering, disputes between neighbours, lost property, noise complaints and other lesser offences.

To report a crime, visit www.surrey.police.uk/contact-us/report-online/