Norfolk's police boss has suggested that the public's expectations of her force are too high saying it does not have the resources to meet them.
Sarah Taylor, the police and crime commissioner (PCC) for the county, warned of a "gloomy" year ahead for the Constabulary, saying it needed to make cuts "across the board" and would also require a tax increase.
She said that without the combination of cuts and a 4pc rise in its share of council tax, the force would become "unmaintainable".
Ms Taylor, a Breckland Labour councillor who was voted into the police post in May, said the force was increasingly stretched by a "growing gap" between its resources and what the public expected from it.
But her comments about public expectations may raise ire in some quarters. Last year, it emerged the force had closed the case in more than half of the thefts reported to it, because no suspect would be identified or the crime had been "investigated as far as reasonably possible".
And the most recent annual inspection of the force found it "required improvement" in the way it responded to the public, with more than a fifth of callers to its 101 service giving up because they take so long to answer the phone.
Ms Taylor said that the policing service was struggling to meet the expectations of people across Norfolk, which she believes have increased in recent years.
"We've got a growing gap between peoples' expectations of us and our abilities to deliver with the resources we have," she said.
She declined to specify in what areas of policing people's expectations have risen.
She added: "Life has become so much easier in so many ways – such as shopping online at the click of a button. Our expectations of all services, including policing, have naturally increased over time and the constabulary has consistently worked to meet those expectations.
"The challenge is that, in the face of years of funding cuts not only to the police but also the other partners involved in the criminal justice system, meeting those expectations is becoming increasingly challenging."
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WHY IS TAX GOING UP?
Ms Taylor made her remarks as she outlined her tax plans for the year ahead.
Police and Crime Commissioners set the annual budget for their force and decide the level of the slice of council tax dedicated to police funding, known as the police precept.
However, they must first carry out a public consultation to determine how much people are willing to pay in order to finance policing services. This will be launched next week.
Because of this, the exact amount by which the police precept will increase is yet to be determined - but Ms Taylor expects it will be a hike of roughly 4.11pc.
For those living in Band D properties, this will result in a yearly increase of £13 and bring the total precept to around £328.90.
There is usually an increase to the sum each year but this will be a bigger hike than was set in the last police budget - of 4.3pc.
Ms Taylor said: "If we want service cuts to be as small as possible we're going to have to raise council tax.
"We can't maintain how things are now with the current level of funding."
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'GLOOMY' YEAR AHEAD
Ms Taylor said it was too soon to say which services would be cut but stressed there would not be a dramatic blow to one particular area of the force.
She added: "It has the potential to be a very gloomy year - everyone in the constabulary wants to do a really good job but there's always a financial sword of Damocles over our heads.
"We will need to make small cuts across the board but we are absolutely not planning to make huge cuts to one service."
She said the level of cuts would also depend on the amount Norfolk's police service receives from the Home Office, which provides grants to PCCs.
However, these changes can be expected to hit services including policing, crime prevention and protections for vulnerable people.
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