Councillors blast police authority 'lethargy'

Hull councillors were infuriated by the decision to axe the 1,500-a-year bounty payments to Special Constables and have now branded the majority of Humberside Police Authority members as "supine".

A letter signed by 20 councillors from across the political spectrum, including council leader Carl Minns, says that over the payments "the pendulum has swung totally in the direction of the chief to the detriment of democratic accountability".

It adds: "Police authority members, it seems, are useful enough when agreeing to increase the council tax precept by some four per cent when times are hard for everyone, but when it comes to how that money will be used, they can 'butt out'."

It says some authority members put up a "valiant defence" of the bounty – officially axed yesterday – but the majority were "supine", adding: "It begs the question what are they there for and if they cannot, then: "Who will guard the guards?"

However East Riding councillor John Parsons, who chairs the finance committee on the authority, which is overseeing the police Choices project, which aims to cut 15m by 2014, said there were tough decisions to be made:

"Unfortunately there are certain things that have to happen and they are difficult and hard decisions and this is one of them. There are going to be more difficult decisions to make in the future."

Coun Parsons said they did not always agree with police recommendations and had rejected a proposal to scrap police and partner forums.

Specials are a force of trained volunteers with the same powers as regular officers and wear a similar uniform.

Cutting payments to specials will save around 1m over four years. So far 3m has been saved as part of the Choices programme.

The savings will be ploughed back into projects like the new headquarters on Clough Road in Hull and into cash reserves.