EAST Cambridgeshire residents can expect to see a few more boots on the beat from this week after an extra 10 police officers were allocated to the district as part of new force-wide restructure.

Launched on Monday, the county-wide shake-up will see an extra eight police constables and two police sergeants joining the 42 officers already based at Ely.

The structure was developed to help the force reduce its budget while creating a model that focuses on local policing.

Ch Insp Waterston said: “The new structure will increase resources allocated to East Cambridgeshire which means we will be able to proactively target local criminals who are committing local crimes.

“We are committed to ensuring East Cambridgeshire remains a safe place to live, work and visit.”

The district will be led by Ch Insp Waterston, Insp Paul Ormerod will be safer neighbourhoods manager and Det Insp Donna Wass will be dedicated crime manager.

Under the new structure, the force will be divided into six areas, in line with local authority boundaries and will have uniformed officers, detectives, PCSOs and Specials who will work as one unit.

Chief Supt Andy Hebb, local policing commander, added: “The new local policing model was developed to reduce costs while maintaining the level of service the public receive.

“In fact the number of officers on the frontline will remain the same so in terms of visible officers the public shouldn’t see any difference.

“The new local policing structure means a number of functions that were previously delivered at a local level will now be delivered by centrally based teams. This means that local officers will be dedicated to dealing with local problems and specialist teams can focus all of their efforts on issues such as domestic violence, missing people and integrated offender management.”