WOULD Warrington people be prepared to pay an extra £2-a-month for the police force?
Cheshire’s police and crime commissioner, David Keane, is hoping to find out when he holds a consultation event in the town’s shopping centre on Friday, January 25 between 11am and 2pm.
The event is one of a number he is holding across the county.
Warrington-based Mr Keane wants to ask Cheshire people if they are willing to support an increase in the police precept to put more bobbies on the beat.
He launched the consultation yesterday offering the option of a £2-a-month increase for the average Band D household.
This, he says, would help Cheshire Police to reinvest in neighbourhood policing and tackle serious and complex crime.
Mr Keane said: “The government has recognised that we need more money for policing but it is putting the burden on local taxpayers. Cheshire Constabulary has made more than £60 million worth of savings since 2010 but with non-pay budgets now over stretched, we have a stark choice to either fund this locally or significantly cut policing numbers.
“I believe that by funding policing through rising council tax, the government is essentially pitting the police against the local population. But without an increase to the precept, the funding offered for 2019/20 is insufficient to cover the existing budget, let alone inflation and increasing demand on our resources.
“With increasing pressures on household budgets, I understand that this proposed government increase to council tax payments is a bitter pill to swallow. However, I been left with no choice but to consult on the difficult option.”
Residents and businesses across Cheshire are being asked to complete a survey to give their views on 2019/20’s precept ahead of the commissioner setting the constabulary’s budget next month.
The Warrington consultation – and the others he will be holding elsewhere across the county – will give local people the opportunity to talk to him directing about their priorities for police funding.
Residents can also give their views by completing a survey on the Cheshire PCC website https://www.cheshire-pcc.gov.uk/what-im-doing/get-involved/public-consultations/open-consultations/budget-consultation/
The consultation closes at midnight on Sunday 27 January 2019.
Cllr David Keane
Would you pay £2-a-month extra for the police?
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I’m sure most people would be willing to pay more for better policing. Unfortunately any money given to Mr Keane will be spent how it has been in the past, on offering non-jobs to family friends, relocations of offices for his own convenience and hundreds of thousands on prosecutions he was advised not to bring. So the answer is no while Mr Keane is in office.
PS That is not a survey in any meaningful sense.
Totally agree with you Mark i have always said the police commissioners and hangers on are a waste of money.
Equally worrying is the absence of any criticism from any of our local politicians or MPs of David Keane’s flawed behaviour during his term as PCC. Had a senior police officer behaved in the same way, the local councillors etc would have been queuing up to heap their scorn on that person’s actions and pressing for sanctions against them.