OVERSTRETCHED police forces in the region are returning to policing 1980s style due to demand "massively outstripping" resources, it was claimed last night.

The Police Federation in the North-East and Yorkshire said a snapshot of activity yesterday morning showed seven forces across the region – which included Northumbria, Cleveland, Durham, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Humberside – were dealing with more than 4,000 calls for service or open incidents.

They were also dealing with 114 missing persons and 269 prisoners in custody, painting a picture of the demand officers and staff face on a daily basis.

Andrea Breeze, chair of Cleveland Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said forces were also stretched because they were picking up the burden of work from other agencies which had had their budgets cut.

She said: "These figures of a typical midweek day show that demand is massively outstripping resources.

"Before we start every day, we are playing catch up in terms of dealing with calls. It's not just about crime. The impact of having to look for vulnerable people places a huge burden on already stretched resources.

"Despite the political rhetoric from Government, we are not just crime fighters.

"The savage cuts imposed on the police service are bringing the service to its knees.

"We are going back to the days of reactive-only policing of the mid 1980s. This is not good for the service of the public."

In July figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed recorded crime increased by ten per cent nationally in the previous twelve months with an 18 per cent rise in violent crime.

At the same time, officer numbers dropped by 1,000 leaving forces to manage with the lowest number of officers since 1985.

In the North-East and Yorkshire, officer numbers have reduced by 19 per cent since 2010 with the loss of 3,736 officers across the region.

And a recent pay and morale survey by the Police Federation showed that 60 per cent of officers in the region were experiencing low morale.

Cleveland Police at 65 per cent, had the fifth highest number of officers suffering low morale in England and Wales.

Durham was the force which had seen its workload increase the most across the country in the last 12 months.

Ms Breeze said the squeeze on officers was only going to get worse after the Government announced a two per cent pay rise.

"The problem is that the Government is only providing one per cent of that, and expects the forces themselves to come up with the other one per cent.

"That means Cleveland is going to have to find about £700,000 from somewhere. That means the Chief Constable will have to cu9t back on other stuff, which in turn has implications for officer safety.

"Some of our officers have said they would rather have a extra officer working beside them than the pay rise, but when some officers are only earning £19,000 and are having to use food banks to support their families I would suggest that the pay rise is necessary, while maintaining essential officer numbers."