Police officers in Leicestershire joined colleagues from across the country in giving a cold shoulder to the Home Secretary at their annual conference yesterday.
About 50 Leicestershire officers, including police federation representatives, were at Bournemouth to hear Theresa May speak.
Mrs May told the 1,000 delegates she believed frontline policing could be protected and savings made by forces working more efficiently.
When she finished her speech she was greeted by silence – in contrast to national police federation chairman Paul McKeever, who received a standing ovation.
Mr McKeever had warned the Home Secretary her reforms on pay and policing had alienated officers across the country.
Ivan Stafford, chairman of Leicestershire Police Federation, said: "It can't have been easy facing a roomful of grumpy cops and she did look nervous before she got up to speak – but she is used to Parliament.
"I think this is possibly the first Home Secretary who has left the stage at our conference without receiving even a single clap.
"It was nothing personal, but it symbolised how police officers are feeling about what the Government is doing.
"I'm proud that so many Leicestershire officers came down here by bus today to hear this speech. There is no mood of self-interest, officers are just concerned what is going to happen to the service they provide to the public.
"We fully understand the position the country is in but we can't deliver the same service with fewer officers. We are asking the Government to listen to what we are saying."
Mrs May said she believed it was possible to cut the national police budget by 20 per cent while maintaining the frontline.
She said she had cut red tape and scrapped targets so officers would spend "less time chasing targets, more time chasing criminals".
Mrs May said: "Not all of you will like some of the decisions I have taken and not all of you will like what I have to say.
"But it's not my job to duck the difficult decisions and to tell you what you want to hear."
One Leicestershire officer, who attended the conference, said she had not heard anything to reassure her.
The officer, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "We all joined the police to make a difference and to help people. We didn't join for money.
"Morale is low at the moment and I know people who are seriously thinking about changing jobs."
The police federation released the results of a national survey of officers when the conference opened on Monday.
It showed that 87 per cent of the 500 Leicestershire officers who took part believe years of crime reductions would be reversed by the cuts.
It also emerged that 99 per cent of the officers said morale had fallen since the Government announced their force would lose around �30 million over the next four years.
Leicestershire police introduced a recruitment freeze in October 2009 and, as a result, the force expects to have lost at least 200 officers by March next year, leaving it with just under 2,150 officers.
Recorded crime has been falling across the board in Leicestershire for several years.
Leicestershire's chief constable Simon Cole has said repeatedly that he would protect frontline policing from the cuts.
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