i think they could save a huge amount of money if they change the type of car they use when they are due for replacement to be honest you do see a lot of v expensive volvo estates & landrovers,there are cars out there a lot cheaper and just as capable

Dave, I think your numbers are a bit optimistic! All these cut backs are ridiculous, we should be having more officers, not less!

Marek and spitfire refer to helicopters and aircraft. Cumbria disbanded its air support unit in 1996. now depends on buying in air support assets which relies on other air units not being busy themselves.

Spitfire your suggestion shows a complete lack of appreciation for the role performed by the officers in question. First of all, air support in police force's in the UK is under going massive change at the moment and soon no force will operate it's own helicopters any more as they are being amalgamated into the National Police Air Service (NPAS).

Secondly, the whole idea is a cost cutting review not a drive to add expensive helicopters to a fleet which already has it's budget stretched to the max.

"Cut back on the cars big time" How many armed response vehicles do you think the force operate at any given time? The answer is three, one in each area of the county (north, south, west).

None of this even touches on Roads Policing which I might add can't be done from a helicopter. Unless you expect the cars to pull over and wait while you find somewhere to land...

The numbers of officers in the roads policing unit,or traffic department as it used to be called has been reduced drastically in the last 5+years.
This is reflected in the standard of driving on the roads nowadays.
Firearms should be a seperate department from road policing to improve road safety.
The use of camera vans to collect revenue is not the answer to safer roads.

Great idea! Especially when the aircraft are grounded due to weather conditions, or the incident is smack in the middle of a town centre with no place to land!

why not cut back on the cars big time,and be like australia, operate 2 armed response police helicopter squads.one in the north of the county and one in south lakes/ barrow area.ok they would respond to other flying dutys aswell.the response time would cover a vast area in record time.theres fasilities at walney airfield and carlisle airport.