The Police budget was cut by $7.5 million yesterday, receiving 11 percent less funding than last year.Minister of National Security David Burch pledged that public safety would not be compromised by the cuts.However, the news was greeted with concern by the Bermuda Democratic Alliance’s national security spokesman Mark Pettingill, who said it was “absurd” to expect the police to do more with less.Other departments within the Ministry of National Security also saw their funding slashed. The Fire Service and Defence Departments each lost 17 percent of their allocation. The Bermuda Housing Corporation got a 15 percent cut.The budget allocates $9 million in funds for the first time to a single border protection agency combining aspects of the Customs and Immigration Departments.Sen Burch said: “The theme of doing more with less, or even the same with less, rings as true with the Ministry of National Security as it does in other areas of Government.”He said prudent management of resources will be “brought into sharper focus” as a result. He added: “I wish to assure the people of Bermuda that the successes achieved in public safety and restoring safer communities will not be sacrificed in the name of funding challenges.“The Bermuda Police Service will continue to provide the coverage and targeted enforcement that has yielded the impressive results of arrests and charges through 2010. This will require some deployment management on the part of the Commissioner and he and I will continue to discuss how to meet the needs of the public in a way that does not ‘burn out’ the hard-working men and women of the BPS.”The budget also revealed that $220,000 will be spent next year on housing the senior command team at the privately-owned Veritas Place in Hamilton, opposite the newly-built Police and court building.And $3 million will be spent on completing the new X-ray scanner at the container port in Hamilton, which is designed to combat guns and drugs getting into Bermuda.Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva was said by a spokesman to be digesting the figures last night, and was unavailable for comment.However, Mr Pettingill said: “The Government, despite the horrendous crime statistics that we have incurred over the last number of years, are still not minded to make the complete and necessary commitment to address this very serious crisis.“It is an absolute absurdity to suggest that in the current situation the police can possibly do more with less.”Meanwhile, Shadow Minister of National Security Michael Dunkley hit out at a Ministry mix-up that saw inaccurate figures included in the original budget statement handed to the media and posted online.For reasons that went unexplained last night, figures went out suggesting the Police had actually been granted a nine percent budget rise. Other budget allocations listed for the Ministry of Security did not add up, and figures for last year were cited inaccurately.The Department of Communications and Information issued an advisory at 4.40pm saying there were “figure discrepancies,” but failing to explain how the mix-up occurred.Sen Dunkley said of this: “Every heading in that Ministry is wrong. Every column. It’s all gibberish. The numbers don’t add up. I’m very concerned something like this could slip through, bearing in mind the extra week they had to get the Budget ready.”In other budget news, the Department of Corrections, which falls under the Ministry of Justice, saw its funding cut by nine percent. It will get $27.3 million compared to $30.1 million last year.A sum of $408,000 has been earmarked for the department’s headquarters to move into a vacant chart room on the top floor of the clock tower in Dockyard.Minister of Justice Michael Scott pledged tighter security to prevent drugs being smuggled into prisons, and a review of treatment options for offenders, to ensure they are good value for money.Commissioner of Corrections Edward Lamb said in response to the budget: “Suffice to say we have been anticipating a reduction in the funds allocated to Corrections and therefore, have been for some time now discussing possible cost-cutting measures.“We have had several discussions to design creative ways that we can continue to serve the community with less financial resources.“One thing that we can assure the community is that security and safety will not be compromised. Whilst we recognise that these are difficult times given the reality of the current economic landscape, we shall continue to strive to achieve our mission and we are confident that we can do so.”He said of the move to the Clock Tower: “This will be the headquarters for Corrections, after it has been refurbished. Our current site (in Happy Valley Road, Pembroke) is in desperate need of renovations and we are vacating these premises in order for public works to do so.”