POLICE chiefs in County Durham are fighting to avoid making cuts in the record number of front-line officers in the force.

Chief constable Paul Garvin saID the force has been "short-changed" by the Home Office's grant settlement.

And he has ordered major pruning of internal budgets to make up a £3.6m shortfall.

"We are putting all our efforts into keeping bobbies on the beat because we know that is what people want," he said.

"It has taken us more than ten years to raise our strength from 1,350 to more than 1,700 officers and it is an achievement we are anxious to protect."

Mr Garvin saID minimising the impact for the next financial year has been a painful exercise.

"We don't believe it is something we can repeat and we will be making early representations to both the Home Office and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister," he said.

The police element of council tax rises for most households across the force area during 2005/06 are set to rise by 6p a week.

But despite the increase, the annual levy remains the lowest of the 35 non-metropolitan forces in England and Wales.

The budget, which has been approved by the police authority, has been fixed at £105.4m - an increase of £4.7m on this year.

The change will push charges for a Band D property from £91.53 to £96.03. However, most households fall into Band A, which will rise from £61.02 to £64.04.

"Both the force and the police authority have been severely constrained by restrictions placed on us by the government's five per cent limit on increases," said Mr Garvin.

"Some high-crime urban forces have been rewarded by the Home Office at the expense of well-run semi-rural forces like Durham where crime has been falling year on year.

"Both we and the police authority feel we are being penalised for our past prudent financial management."

Senior officers are particularly angry at the decision by Centrex, the national police training organisation, to pull out of its regional centre at Aykley Heads next month.

The centre, a integral part of Durham's HQ complex, generated an income of £912,000pa to the Durham force, which has now been lost.

Additionally, a national revision of census data has cost the force a further £442,000 in lost grants.

Efficiency savings allied to changes in borrowing for capital projects have helped to claw back more than £2m and nearly £2.5m from reserves will help cushion the impact of rising pension costs.

Internal budgets which have been cut include subsidies for police station catering and the HQ sports complex.