Police chief ’s tax rise plan is passed to put bobbies on beat

MORE bobbies on the beat have been promised after a plan to increase the police share of Council Tax was passed.

The local crime panel agreed to up the share of council tax for police by nearly 2% after a presentation by Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Lord Willy Bach and his team last week.

Following the green light the PCC said a recruitment drive for eight additional beat bobbies could begin as part of his drive to increase police visibility.

The new recruits will be spread across the region’s eight neighbourhood policing areas.

Lord Bach said: “My financial plans for 2017-18 have been shaped by the needs and expectations of local people.

“I have listened carefully to what they have said and I’ve done something about it.

“Any increase in council tax, however small, is not a decision to be taken lightly.

“The Treasury, however, made it clear that there was little choice but to implement such a rise to maintain the status quo and lessen the impact of what is essentially a further erosion of our central funding.”

Under the plans the precept - money paid from Council Tax for policing - will increase by £3.65-per-year for a Band D property from April.

That brings the total tax bill for policing for the average home to £187.23-peryear.

Lord Bach went on: “The good news is we’re now able to build up our active community police presence and keep more police officers where the public want them to be – in their communities.

“This is what everyone tells me they want to see and this budget will make it happen.

“I was pleased therefore that the panel accepted the ongoing pressures in terms of increasing demand and emerging crime threats and recognised the inevitability of a small council tax rise to help meet these.”

The new investment will bring police officer levels to 1,782 which compares to 1,764 in April 2016.

In an additional move, consideration is being given to relocating some uniformed officers based at police HQ to local neighbourhood policing teams in order to increase accessibility and visibility to the public.

Over the next five years the force still faces a funding shortfall of around £10.3 million following central government cuts.

Lord Bach said: “Each year it becomes more and more difficult to maintain the status quo.

“However we’re already working on ways to limit the impact of these cuts.”