POLICE budget cuts will hit Merseyside harder than any other force, after it was revealed there are more officers on front line duties locally than anywhere else in the country.

The force has to shave £61.4m from its budget over the next four years thanks to deep cuts in funding.

And warnings from those in local policing that Merseyside will suffer more than most were backed up in a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

HMIC found more than two-thirds of officers nationally are “front line”, under the definition they produced yesterday – the first official definition ever.

The inspectorate said front line means “those in everyday contact with the public and who directly intervene to keep people safe and enforce the law”.

But, on Merseyside, it is nearer 95%, with a higher percentage of officers ready for front line deployment than any other force.

To get to that stage, the police authority, who control the force’s finances, spent years cutting from back offices and investing the savings into putting more officers on the streets.

Now, with more savings being forced on them, there are few options but to cut what they fought to build up.

Ministers have said Chief Constables should be able to preserve the front line but only now have a definition of what constitutes “front line policing”.