POLICE commissioner Sir Graham Bright says his personal office has grown to 10 staff and may get bigger but is still cheaper than the police authority he replaced.

He was speaking on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire after an advertisement appeared on his website for a £21,000 a year outreach worker for Fenland and Peterborough.

“This new role will ensure we are listening to every single person,” he said. “You can only do that if you talk with people- and you need to do that systematically and not randomly.

“This job will ensure we are consulting with people – yes it is part of my brief to do this, the person appointed will report directly to me.

“At certain times that person could be based in Sainsbury’s in March or Peterborough so people can come and tell us what concerns them.”

The £70,000 a year Cambs police commissioner said the appointment of an outreach worker would be for a year and if it proves a success “I shall be looking to appoint another in the south”.

Sir Graham also revealed an upgrade in police communications and that meant a major investment in IT. By equipping officers with smart phones and the latest technology they could file reports from their car, coffee shops and street corners without having to return to a police station.

He said it would save money as part of his bid to reduce the £132 million a year police budget.

“I have to save £10 million by 2016 and believe me I shall do it,” he said.

Sir Graham also said an early success had been his campaign to improve the 101 service for non emergency calls.

“People were at one point hanging on for up to 10 minutes and now that is down to 30 seconds,” he said. “It was an important issue, people told me it was, and it’s been put right.”