PCC launches consultation on the cost of policing

WARRINGTON-based Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane, is launching a new consultation on the county’s police precept from Monday, the results of which could have significant ramifications for the force’s future.
Mr Keane is leading the consultation on the police precept – a key component of homeowners’ annual council tax bills – and will visit communities across the region to gauge the views of residents and businesses on potential police precept increases.
The consultation will last three weeks and will see the Commissioner visit a number of locations across the county, starting with Runcorn Shopping City on Monday, between 11am and 2pm.
The Commissioner will announce the locations and times of a further four events within the next week. Alternatively, residents and business owners can visit https://www.cheshire-pcc.gov.uk/ to have their say online from Monday.
The former Labour councillor at Warrington said: “With inflation rising and public sector pay increases on the horizon, maintaining Government grant flat-cash funding for police services at the same levels for the next financial year means, in real terms, a cut of around five million pounds to the Cheshire police budget.
“This five million pound shortfall is equivalent to losing 100 police officers from Cheshire’s communities, that’s in addition to dealing with new and growing threats such as rising crime levels, cybercrime and terrorism.
“The consultation will set out the genuine funding pressures being faced by the force as result of funding challenges since 2010 and a ‘woeful’ flat cash settlement from Government for the next financial year, 2018-2019.
“The police budget in Cheshire has endured more than £60 million worth of government funding cuts since 2010, which means the force is spending 37% less on policing, in real terms, than it was eight years ago.
“Like many police forces across the country we have done all we can to deal with these financial challenges, and there are very few further efficiency savings that we can make to help find this money. There is now a danger that the already overstretched thin blue line will be at breaking point unless we act.
“And I’ve made sure that the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner has shouldered the burden too, getting rid of company cars and cutting top salaries to an affordable level. My office, which costs less than half of one percent of overall police spend, is the second lowest cost PCC in the country, delivering excellent value for money, whilst ensuring every extra penny saved has gone into maintaining front line policing that we can be proud of.
“As a result of the woeful settlement from Government, to plug the funding gap and to support community policing, I need to consider the options we have as a community to raise money locally via the council tax precept.”
The consultation launches online on Monday and will run for three
weeks.
The Commissioner will also be consulting with businesses based in the county separately, and there will be a supply of leaflets and questionnaires at police help desks should people not be able to attend the events or fill in the questionnaire online.