POLICE officers responding to late night incidents are not receiving the back-up they need, according to Lancashire Police Federation.

Authority chiefs are set to hold emergency talks with federation members to discuss the alleged problems.

The talks follow a claim that in one East Lancashire incident, officers were forced to use CS gas to contain a late night disturbance because of insufficient support.

Federation secretary Colin Berry said: "We have written to the police authority and a meeting has been agreed. We are worried about the number of operational officers there to respond to incidents during the night shifts. The reduction in numbers exposes the remaining officers to dangers and they are having difficulties.

"We have been voicing our concern since January and we feel the management are not doing enough about it.

"The police authority have told us they are pleased with the changes in the force over the last two or three years, but the feedback we keep getting from divisional officers is that there is a shortage of officers."

The problem-oriented-policing works well during the day, but the officers drawn in to do that are being taken from patrolling activities."

A Lancashire police spokesman said: "The issues raised in conference between the federation and the chief officers will be discussed at a special liaison meeting to be held in the near future.

"Consequently we do not feel it wise to discuss these matters in the media before senior officers have had an opportunity to examine them in detail."

The federation's other concerns include the closures of a number of police stations across the county.

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