The police part of council tax is set to rise in County Durham
The police part of council tax is set to rise with more officers, call handlers and tech promised – but a £10m funding cut could be on the way.
Durham Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Joy Allen said less than 20p extra a week from most households could provide more staff and equipment.
But she pointed out the force could raise half as much from the rise as North Yorkshire Police, and was still short of more than 150 officers.
She also warned the force could lose “up to £10m” in future years, hitting frontline policing, from a government funding review.
She presented the proposals and measures to a meeting of Durham County Council’s police and crime panel on Thursday.
She proposed a £10 per year increase – 19p a week – for band D homes in the precept, which makes up 29% of the force’s funding.
For the majority of properties, at band A, she said this would be a £6.67 annual rise, 13p a week.
She said this was needed to meet the public’s priorities and challenges like 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 have 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.
“And this budget will help me deliver these priorities.
“If the panel agree to the proposed precept today, I will be able to recruit an additional 90 officers during the year, maintain PSCO numbers at 146, recruit up to 12 additional call handlers and introduce Operation Snap to anable road users to share footage of dangerous drivers.
“This is good news for residents of County Durham and Darlington.
“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, unlike our neighbours North Yorkshire who will end up with an extra 190 officers.”
She said different distribution of property bands meant the rise would not have the same impact as in North Yorkshire.
She said: “For every 1% rise of the precept in Durham, Durham can raise £400,000 and North Yorkshire can raise £800,000, twice as much as Durham.
“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 £10m, 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 said of ‘Operation Snap’: “This is where members of the public have the ability to submit dashcam footage into the force control room.
“It will be examined by a police officer where they will decide whether or not it’s sufficiently significant to warrant an investigation.”
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: “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 £8.5m 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% 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.”
But she raised concerns about rural communities, CCTV, quad bikes and criminal damage.
Ms Allen said she would encourage an “area-based problem-solving partnership approach” with neighbourhood policing to drive down such crime and disorder.
Councillors voted 5-2 in favour of the precept rise.