by Martin Jefferies

There are fears that a shake-up at Kent Police that will see 1,500 staff lose their jobs could send crime rates soaring.

The force confirmed the redundancies, after agreeing a 20 per cent (£53 million) cut to its budget.

Chief Constable Ian Learmonth said he was "determined" to maintain frontline policing services and pledged to introduce around 400 extra neighbourhood officers.

However, Ian Pointon, chairman of Kent Police Federation, which represents the county's police officers, said: "I'd be hugely surprised if we don't see crime rates rise.

"To say that crime rates aren't linked to the number of police officers is nonsense. We've seen unprecedented increases in police officer numbers over the last 13 years or so and we've seen crime fall as a result."

Mark Gilmartin, chief executive of Kent Police Authority, said the force was considering a number of innovative ways of policing the county.

But he admitted: "It would be a very brave man or woman who wasn't concerned about what the future holds.

"We want to be as realistic as possible. There are some very real challenges but I think we can all be reassured by the commitments the Chief Constable has made."

Mr Learmonth said the restructuring plans would provide a "quicker and more efficient response to persistent policing problems".

He added: "It's been an extremely challenging process and it certainly wont be pain free.

"We are fundamentally redesigning the policing model for Kent by streamlining and rationalising support services and re-aligning some of our specialist policing functions to continue to deliver a first-class service."