Policing authority spurns grant and puts up bill

Members of Humberside Police Authority voted 14 to 2 yesterday to raise the amount paid for by residents towards policing by 3.99 per cent.

The amount, which is added to the council tax bill, is the equivalent of an extra £6.65 a year for a Band D ratepayer, or 13p a week.

On Monday North Yorkshire Police Authority decided to take up the Government’s offer, saying the small shortfall it would leave in the budget could be handled by the incoming police commissioner, who is due to take up the post in November.

But Humberside Police Authority’s chairman Ros Taylor said they wanted to avoid having to ask for more savings on top of those already planned.

She said: “When we took the decision we knew it was at a time when everyone is being asked to tighten their belts and therefore going for a freeze might have been an easier and more popular move.

“However, a more detailed look at the figures shows that, had we gone for that, the authority – and the commissioner in few months time – would be worse off by around £500,000 in 2012/13 and by more that £2m in later years as the grant is just a one-off.

“Members of the authority have a duty to protect and preserve policing, particularly front line resources like PCSOs which the public value.”

Former Humberside Police chief superintendent Keith Hunter, who is standing against former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Hull’s Lord Mayor Colin Inglis to become the Labour candidate for the commissioner, backed the decision, describing the Government’s offer to freeze bills as a “one year bribe which will reduce the effectiveness of the police long-term into the future.”

According to Humberside Police Federation’s chairman Steve Garmston, numbers of front-line officers have fallen from 2,200 in March 2008 to 1,839 at the end of last month. He says numbers could fall to around 1,600 by the time the cuts are through.