Summertime police part of Lincolnshire Police's five-year plan

Seasonal police officers could be employed during the summer to meet extra demand from holidaymakers.

Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Bill Skelly said the force was looking at the viability of having "people on-call" to provide cover at peak times.

The county's coastal holiday resorts attract about 20 million visitors each year, many during the summer months, the force said.

Mr Skelly said greater flexibility was needed to cope with the extra demand.

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"It's looking at the spike in demand we have particularly during the summer, and at weekends, and seeing whether we can employ people to work during those times," he said.

Previously, the force has explored a number of initiatives to provide extra policing on the coast, including having officers based at beach huts in Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea.

The extra summer resource idea is part of a five-year plan for the force.

Mr Skelly said another priority was recruiting more overseas officers in communities like Boston, which is home to up to 18,000 EU migrants.

He said: "We very much want to reflect the communities of Lincolnshire - and we do have large numbers of new communities, particularly in the south of the county."

"I feel they are under-represented, and it is important we have a link," he added.

Other proposals include improvements in combating serious and organised digital crime, and doing more to reduce reoffending.

The cash-strapped force - which claims to be the worst-funded per head of population in the country - has yet to announce the costs associated with measures detailed in the plan.

However, it recently announced it was working to secure a better government funding deal.