Police have been criticised for failing to tackle rising crime after they shared photographs of themselves laughing while picking up litter.

Officers from Longton, Staffordshire posted photographs online of themselves smiling and picking up rubbish and dumping it in a skip, but they have been lambasted by the community for failing to carry out more serious duties.

The police force have tried to justify the week-long move as an attempt to 'engage with the local community' - yet crime in the area is up 13 per cent in a year and officers have no suspect in 41 per cent of cases.

Staffordshire Police have been hit hard due to a cut in funds by the Government and a quarter of officers in five years has lost their jobs. Next year, the force faces cuts of £13.7 million.

Officers from Longton, Staffordshire posted photographs online of themselves picking up rubbish (left and right)

Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis hinted stations may shut and said: 'I've a budget challenge.

'I would rather spend money on officers and staff than buildings.'

One Twitter user said of the litter picking: 'Who was doing the policing while you were doing the council's job? Disgraceful waste of time.'

Another added: 'Would time not be better spent enforcing the litter laws?'

Another person added: 'No police should not been cleaning up. They should be fighting crime and prevention of it.'

Stephen Murtagh tweeted: 'Ridiculous. Do you do gardening as well? Oh, and my windows need cleaning. Do you do that? Do some policing for crying out loud!'

A group of smiling officers can be seen holding up their rubbish picker and posing for the camera

This officer was photographed smiling as he prepares to throw rubbish into a skip

'Would time not be better spent actually enforcing the litter laws...that way less litter to pick up in future and the public don't shake their heads,' another added.

But Sgt Nathan Hough said of the scheme: 'Although it focused on crime, the major driving force was to engage with the community and look at what concerns they have.

'One concern highlighted was litter. So a litter pick-up took place with residents and schools helping our environmental team.'

Twitter users were quick to condemn the force for not 'fighting crime'

The number of recorded crimes in Staffordshire grew from 113,260 in 2016 to 117,752 last year, according to the force’s figures. In the Lightwood North and Normacot ward, crimes jumped nine per cent.

According to Staffordshire’s 2018-19 Policing Plan, published earlier this year, the constabulary needs to save more than £11million from its annual budget by March 2021, having already made savings of more than £11.2million since 2010.

Matthew Ellis, the local Police and Crime Commissioner, has also signalled that stations may close, explaining that: ‘I’ve a budget challenge. I would rather spend money on officers and staff than buildings.’

Officers aided council workers in the community clean-up on Wednesdayg, after the force and a local residents’ association provided ten skips to collect rubbish. The activities also included staging a community centre coffee morning.

A outcry in Staffordshire echoed the storm triggered last year when Humberside officers were criticised for riding dodgem cars at Hull Fair. No fewer than 21 officers, including a chief superintendent, were pictured at the nine-day event.

And last Halloween, Cambridgeshire Police were criticised after an officer posed in a Frankenstein mask behind bars. Other forces had previously been condemned for gimmicks such as officers painting nails to raise awareness of modern-day slavery. But Staffordshire’s Assistant Chief Constable Nick Adderley insisted: ‘The week of action was designed in partnership with the community and partners and was a huge success in terms of bringing offenders to justice, relationship-building and developing a sense of togetherness.

‘One week of action will yield months of consequential benefit and is something that we, as a force, together with volunteers and key partners, will continue to drive forward.’