SWINGEING cuts to Cumbria Constabulary's budget will see the number of frontline police officers drop to fewer than 1,000 in the next four years.

The force must save £10.8m by 2018/2019 as central government bids to balance the country's books. That figure is on top of £16m saved since 2010.

A report which went before the county's Police and Crime Panel on Monday outlined plans to find £4.3m savings by slashing police officer numbers from 1,132 to 977 by 2019 - a 14 per cent decrease.

Martin Plummer, chairman of Cumbria Police Federation, said the government had already 'tied the hands of the force' and was now 'binding its feet'.

He said the drop in officers would lead to those in a job to become stretched - meaning less engagement with the public.

"The public wants the face-to-face familiarity but officers will not be able to do that when they are running from one task to another," he said. "We will lose that all important information about what is happening on your street and once we lose that then we are fighting a losing battle."

"The professionalism and dedication will still be there but we will not be able to afford the services we want to do."

'Radical' changes to the way officers respond to calls were also detailed in the report in a bid to support the reduction.

“The next few years will be critical for the funding of policing in the county," said the county's police and crime commissioner Richard Rhodes said: "I want Cumbria to be in the strongest position it can be for the challenges both financial and policing that it will have to face."

Chief Constable Jerry Graham said: "The programme of work is radical and will provide the foundation to support the reduction in police officer numbers and the forward-looking approach that is being promoted to deliver quality, getting it right first time and to manage out demand that is not appropriate for the police service to deal with."

Documents also laid out plans to increase the police's precept, its share of council tax, by 1.9 per cent for 2015/16.

It said that equates to an increase of £3.96 per annum for a band D property and takes the total police element of the precept at band D to £212.58.

Mr Rhodes said: "The message from people that I met during the consultation was that they are willing to pay a few pence a week more to keep Cumbria safe."

Cllr Celia Tibble, chair of the Cumbria Police and Crime Panel, said: "The increase will go some way to limit the impact of ongoing reductions in grant funding given to the police by the government, helping protect frontline police services."

The report warned projections do not take account of the further funding reductions estimated at £3.3m arising from the Autumn Statement.

The number of civilian police staff is also set to reduce by 154 by 2018/2019, down from 654.