Tigerfish ....and I speak very highly of you!!!
May I point out that Police Forces are on a fixed budget determined by Central Government. If the money isn't there, it isn't there. There could equally be people jumping up and down at redundancies saying, "we need bobbies on the beat" or getting irate when the police accommodation is sold off, "how can a copper afford to buy a house round here".
It seems to me that too many people use "bean-counters" as the scapegoat for all the problems in any business or organisation that appears to be in difficulty without getting to understand the whole situation and ramifications thereof.
There is a lot of wastage in the Public Sector but that is not down to accountants; it is down to remits from Central Government about accountability of the tax payers money and the perception of what public wants. There are departments who monitor everything and departments who monitor the monitors and that's even before the auditors are involved.
Why don't you have a look at your local force's accounts and suggest to them where the savings could be made? Then you might understand that it's not so easy!
Cheers
Whirls