TAX payers are to be hit by a £10 rise in the cost of policing the county.
Durham Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Joy Allen’s proposals for the maximum increase allowed have been backed amid a warning the force could lose “up to £10 million” in future years, hitting frontline policing, from a government funding review.
She presented her proposals and measures to a meeting of Durham County Council’s police and crime panel.
She proposed a £10 per year increase for band D homes in the precept, which makes up 29 per cent of the force’s funding.
She said this was needed to meet the public’s priorities and challenges such as energy costs, more officers working busy nights, a national pay freeze and investment in buildings and cars.
“I recognise that many households are facing financial challenges at the moment,” she told councillors.
“But the public told me before my election, after my election and during the precept consultation they want to see more officers on the streets, anti-social behaviour tackled, improvements to the 101 system and road safety improved.
“This budget will help me deliver these priorities.”
She said the increase in tax bills would mean an additional 90 officers, maintaining PSCO numbers at 146 and up to 12 additional call handlers.
“This is good news for residents of County Durham and Darlington,” added Ms Allen.
“However, unlike some forces, it won’t get back to 2010 levels.
“In fact, we will still be short of 153 officers on the ground compared to 2010.”
She added: “The government has recently announced that they intend to review the police funding formula allocation between forces for future years.
“Based on our previous reviews, Durham could potentially lose significant sums of grant, up to £10million, putting significant strains on the budget and therefore frontline policing.”
She thanked residents for responding to a precept survey, saying it was the first time they were asked for areas where they wanted to see investment.
The PCC’s chief financial officer Gary Ridley said there would be 70 additional officers recruited to replace those who had left the force.
He said this would make a total of 160 new officers in the coming year – “a record level of recruitment” – along with 40 PSCOs starting work.
He added there would be more investment in IT staff, a new control room computer system, better body-worn cameras, the construction of a new custody suite, and 60 to 70 more police vehicles with a move towards an “electric fleet” .
He said the PCSOs, call handlers and technology would be in jeopardy without the rise, adding: “That’s what this is paying for.”
Cllr Robert Potts opposed the precept rise – the maximum allowed without a referendum – saying the force was getting about £8.5million more from grants.
He said: “At a time when some are making the decision between heating or eating, I think it’s frankly wrong of the commissioner to automatically increase the precept again by the maximum allowed, especially as the precept had already been increased by over 32 per cent over the last four years.”
Clr Lucy Hovvels said: “I welcome the extra police that we’re going to have and I think people are quite happy to pay for that as long as they see police within their communities.”
Councillors voted 5-2 in favour of the precept rise.
