A woman whose police officer partner died in a crash has warned more loved ones could be lost if further cuts are made to Sussex Police.

Tokunbo Ezobi died in a crash on the A23 in Bolney, near Haywards Heath, on New Year's Day 2003 while on duty for Metropolitan Police.

The 25-year-old’s partner Wendy Ezobi, who changed her name to match his following the tragedy, is now a member of Care of Police Survivors, a charity set up to care for those who have lost their loved ones in the force.

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At a Sussex Police Federation open meeting on Tuesday night, Mrs Ezobi, of Hove, warned more people could end up needing the support of the charity if plans to single crew cars and further cuts, as reported on yesterday in The Argus, go ahead.

She said: “Where we are going with all these cuts is it is going to make it likely more and more of these police officers wives and husbands come to us. It is making their jobs unsafe.

“We are not part of the charity because we want to be.

“You have to look at what you are doing to this police service. It is just not right.”

Chief Constable Martin Richards said that sometimes they would get things wrong but did “the best we can”.

He added: “We cannot manage out all our risk.

“It is part of the job and the responsibility of operational officers.

“Will we always get it right? Probably not.

“We do the best we can, but sometimes it can go tragically wrong.”

Sussex Police Federation had warned its members may be forced to standby and watch crimes unfold before them, if they felt unsafe as the row over single crewed cars rumbled on.

But a frontline officer who spoke candidly to The Argus on the agreement of anonymity said they would still intervene in incidents, regardless of safety fears.

He said: “Do you really think a police officer would stand by and do nothing if they witnessed a crime taking place?

“Some might but it would be the minority – the vast majority would definitely intervene.

“I don’t know any officer I work with who could stand by and watch a crime taking place and ignore it.”

Asked how he felt about single-crews being sent out, rather than double-crews he said he did not think it would have a significant impact.

He said: “If there is a gun incident and we were double-crewed we still wouldn’t attend it.

“There will be incidents we don’t send officers into, irrespective of crew numbers for safety reasons.

“We do that now.

“I am not going to lie and say things are brilliant – things have been better – but I also think that they could be worse.

“Morale is low and I think that is because there is a lot of criticism of police. A lot of different people from different places criticise us.”