The Police Federation say demand is "massively outstripping resources" across forces in the North East, including West Yorkshire Police.

In a snapshot of activity this morning, the seven forces, which include West, North and South Yorkshire, as well as Northumbria, Durham, Cleveland and Humberside were dealing with more than 4,000 outstanding calls for service or open incidents, 144 missing persons and 269 prisoners in custody.

Nick Smart, chair of West Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “These figures of a typical midweek day show that demand is massively outstripping resources.

"Before we start every day, we are playing catch in terms of dealing with calls.

"It’s not just about crime, the impact of having to look for missing vulnerable people places a huge burden on already stretched resources.

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

"We are picking up the burden of many other areas of work from other agencies. This is against a backdrop of continually reducing numbers. 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 1980’s. This a not good for the service or the public.”

In July, figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed recorded crime increased by 10 per cent nationally in the previous twelve months with an 18 per cent rise in violent crime.

Since 2010, West Yorkshire Police has lost 1,038 officers and in the North East, numbers have reduced by 19 per cent with the loss of 3,736 officers across the region.

The Federation says increasing and unrealistic workloads set against a backdrop of increased crime and reducing officer numbers is taking its toll on police officers in the North East.

A recent pay and morale survey found 85 per cent of respondents from West Yorkshire Police felt they were paid unfairly in the face of strains and stresses of their job. 

Mr Smart said: “There is real anger and fury from officers regarding last week’s pay award announcement. The two per cent award, consisting of a one per cent pensionable pay rise plus a one per cent non-pensionable additional amount, still falls short of the 2.9 per cent rate of inflation and equates to a real terms pay cut for officers of 16 per cent since 2009/2010.

“The Government have given a pay award which has to be funded form existing police budgets.

"This means in reality Chief Constables have to pay for it out of current budgets – budgets where they are still trying to find savings from the cuts imposed upon them from Number Ten.

"They will have to stop recruiting, and reduce police officer numbers further to pay for this underhand Government pay award. All this does is weaken the police service further to deal with demand and lower morale.”

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Thanks to additional money raised locally through police council tax we are in the process of recruiting more officers and staff which should help lessen the workload on the existing workforce.

"However, this will never be a replacement for sustainable central funding which is something the government needs to act on to ensure the pressure on officers and staff is eased.

"The recent announcement about the pay award for the Police service is another example of Government commitment and resources falling well short of what is required in recognising the work of the Police and public services generally, which ultimately undermines and devalues the great work of our police service."

Chief Constable Dee Collins of West Yorkshire Police added: “We are extremely proud of the huge efforts our Police Officers and Staff continue to make to keep the communities of West Yorkshire safe, in a time of heightened security fears and increasing demands upon them. Not only is the volume of demand upon them increasing, but also the complexity of what they face, day in, day out. This is at a time, when other public sector agencies are also experiencing reducing budgets, so our Police Officers and Staff together with our partners are having to work even closer together with less resource. 

“The ratio of residents to police officers in West Yorkshire has increased by 30 per cent since 2006 and we fully recognise the impact increased workloads and demand is having on hard working Officers and Staff, and the Force are doing everything we can to support them through this.

“This includes putting our peoples’ health and wellbeing high on our agendas to help mitigate the stresses and strains they may be feeling. I and my Chief Officer Team are personally already working with the Federation, Unions and Staff Networks to see what more we can do for our staff.  Listening to their thoughts is very important as well as discussions directly with our workforce.

“We are also fortunate to still be recruiting new officers and staff into the Force.  This is helping us to gradually become more representative of our communities, but there are further budgetary pressures ahead.

“It is a source of real pride that West Yorkshire Police was commended by the HMIC in their 2017 PEEL assessment for our fair and respectful treatment of staff, and we fully recognise that attracting and maintaining a committed workforce is key for us as the policing service for the people of West Yorkshire."