IN the grand scheme of police force finances, £77,000 is not a huge amount of money.

However, when you consider that £77,000 is what the West Mercia force spent on interpreters in South Worcestershire alone last year it suddenly seems like a lot of money.

And when you take into account the fact that at the turn of the century the equivalent spend on interpreters was less than £8,000 - then it seems like a massive amount of money.

Take a second or two to digest those figures.

In less than seven years the amount of money coming out of the police budget in this area of Worcestershire has increased tenfold.

We doubt if there could be a starker illustration of the additional demands being placed on our police by the opening up of Europe's borders, particularly in the former Eastern Bloc countries.

Last week the Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire detailed how a huge influx of migrant workers had changed the ways in which her force operated. It is clear from the figures we reveal today that the Cambridgeshire experience is being repeated across the country.

Offenders and victims with little or no grasp of the English language all have to be dealt with by the police.

It is vital that the powers-that-be firstly find extra money for police budgets. We dread to think how else Worcestershire's £77,000 could have been spent.

Ensuring that migrant workers understand our language and our laws should also be a prerequisite for those wishing to make a living in this country.