THE cost of living crisis is leaving police more at risk of being corrupted by organised crime gangs, the chairman of a group representing Cumbria's officers has said.

Paul Williams, of Cumbria Police Federation, said a pay freeze coupled with the rising cost of living was leaving officers struggling to cope.

The Government has refused to offer a pay rise to police officers since 2020.

And Mr Williams, whose group represents rank and file officers, said there could consequences across the country to police struggling financially.

He said: "It leaves cops open to misconduct via corruption.

"We deal with high-end criminals and a lot of those put cops at risk of bribery or corruption.

"If we're not getting paid for the level of work we do officers can be subject to bribery or corruption by organised crime. 

"It's definitely a risk."

He said officers were finding it 'tough to cope' amid spiralling costs and feared more and more would consider leaving policing.

"We've had over the past decade a 20 per cent real terms pay cut due to pay rises not being given to us - we are way behind," he said.

"Now we've got significant rises in fuel prices for officers having to travel to get to work and significant rises in food bills.

"You've got young officers who are just joining on a wage barely equivalent to somebody working in McDonald's and they're paying a high rate of pension.

"They are finding really tough to cope.

"It's going to be harder and harder to retain cops.

"On one hand the Government are giving us an extra 20,000 cops nationally but they are taking by freezing our pay, which is going to result in officers leaving.

"It's worrying and it's affecting a lot of cops. We're all feeling the pinch even those on top-line pay."

Mr Williams also warned officers could have to go to foodbanks and may be vulnerable to loan sharks.

"Vultures are circling now in credit unions that charge extortionate amounts of interest," he said. 

Spelling out its proposals for officers' pay earlier this year, for Home Office said: "The Government must balance the need to ensure fair pay for public sector workers with protecting funding for frontline services, including the police service, which plays a vital part in the criminal justice system, and ensuring affordability for taxpayers.

"We must ensure that the affordability of a pay award is taken into consideration so that police forces are able to maximise the number of additional officers that they can recruit and ensure the ambition to recruit 20,000 officers by March 2023 is met."