SOME of the Island's police stations may be closed, the Department of Home Affairs has revealed.

The department's budget for 2012/2013 has been reduced by 2.2 per cent (£691,000) compared to the previous year.

The current budget stands at £30,927,600 but the department has said savings of £1.3 million need to be found.

Finding these additional savings is said to be "extremely challenging" as the department has the highest percentage of staff costs across government.

As a result the department has said there will be a reduction to front line services and headcount.

Areas affected include the possible closure of some police stations and a cut in the proactive work that the Fire and Rescue Service does in terms of community fire safety initiatives. 

The criminal justice system is also being reviewed in an effort to make it more streamlined and efficient. The results of this review are due to be presented to the Chief Minister within six months.

The Island's prison and probation service will also come under scrutiny. A statement released by the department explained: "We are in the process of undertaking a function review in order to analyse all essential and non-essential work to see how we can work differently to meet our budgetary cuts and minimise the impact of any job losses".

Home Affairs Minister Juan Watterson MHK said: "The Department of Home Affairs is at the front line of public safety and by any measure has been successful in terms of the safety outcomes it has achieved even with declining budgets.

"It is not easy to provide a full policing, fire, prison, probation and communications infrastructure for only £1 per person per day and I would like to think that the public get excellent value for money for this.

"The nature of the department's services means that any reduction at the front line must be carefully evaluated to minimise the impact on public and staff safety.

"I firmly believe that, in planning our services for the next 12 months, we have been able to strike the difficult balance between the protection of the public and the need to live within reduced means.

"I will of course monitor carefully the quality of provision across the breadth of the department's services to ensure that our high standards are maintained."

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