CASH-STRAPPED police forces have raised more than £300m from private firms paying for patrols in the last five years.

Supermarket giant Asda and budget airline Easyjet are among those paying for extra policing - as forces struggle to contend with budget cuts.

1 Private firms are paying forces to have their officers on patrol

Easyjet is paying for extra cops to patrol departure gates for its flights at four airports and deter "excessive drinking" by passengers - at a cost of £85,000 a year.

Asda is forking out nearly £200,000 a year for Metropolitan Police cops to keep guard at a retail park in East London where it has a large store.

In another private contract, property developer Berkeley Group is paying £85,000 to Scotland Yard for two full-time officers to provide a “visible presence” around two of its London housing schemes.

In Dorset, cops were paid to be on duty at a student ball at Bournemouth University.

In total 14 police forces across the UK have raised at least £313m since 2014, data obtained by the i newspaper revealed. The total figure across all 48 forces is likely to be much higher.

'TWO TIER' POLICING SYSTEM

The revelations has led to fears it could create a "two tier" policing system, where wealthy private firms are able to pay for enhanced security while poorer communities are forced to rely on an overstretched force.

Around 20,000 cops have been axed in ten years.

Scotland Yard, the country's largest police force, has seen its annual budget slashed by about 20 per cent since 2011, and it has lost 10 per cent of its cops in that time.

Last month Prime Minister Theresa May provoked outrage when she claimed there was no direct link between falling numbers of officers on the street and the recent surge in deadly stabbings.

Crime detection rates are at their lowest level since 2015 - with cash-strapped forces struggling to investigate low-level crimes such as burglaries.

It's feared officers could be diverted to help patrol areas for private companies because forces so desperately need the extra cash.

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Louise Haigh, the shadow policing and crime minister, told the i: "The police should be properly paid for providing services that keep the public safe. But they should not be forced by brutal cuts to divert desperately-needed officers to guard swanky private apartments.

"Police officers proudly serve the public, not the highest bidder. They are not for sale."

Green Party peer Baroness Jenny Jones, a longstanding campaigner on policing and police funding, added: "It is extremely worrying after years of police cuts that companies can buy extra police, while whole communities are finding that burglaries and thefts from vehicles are being ‘no crimed’ and neglected."

Last year we reported how residents in some of Britain's poshest neighbourhoods were shelling out on private police patrols because forces were struggling to put officers on the front line.