Hampshire police chief welcomes support to increase council tax bill for upcoming year to 'help take fight to criminals'

Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire, Michael Lane, was backed by the Police and Crime Panel to increase the police precept by £15 per annum (based on band D properties).

The increase will raise an additional £10m for Hampshire Constabulary in 2021/22 and will boost recruitment to help investigate more crimes and bring more people to justice.

Mr Lane said the extra money would ‘help take the fight to criminals’ before adding: ‘The pandemic has created a great deal of uncertainty and financial strain for so many people, I had to be strongly convinced that it is the right thing to do to increase the police precept at all.

‘Policing has continued to be under significant pressure over the last year, with increased responsibility to enforce the coronavirus restrictions and while some crimes have reduced with more people at home there has been an increase in other crimes like domestic and sexual abuse.’

Chief constable Olivia Pinkney said: ‘I welcome this public show of support for policing from our Police and Crime Panel. At a time when people are facing very real economic pressures it is right that different views about public spending are aired and debated in this way.’

Chairman of the panel, councillor David Stewart, added: ‘As a result of the budget supported by the panel today, we look forward to seeing new police officers coming on board in the year ahead.

‘This will increase the visible policing presence within our communities as well as retaining Police Community Support Officers and bolstering staffing within 999 and 101 call centres.’

Meanwhile, Richard Murphy, Liberal Democrat candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner of the county, was critical over the announcement after saying the county’s police currently receive £43.5m less than the national average.

‘We need a Police and Crime Commissioner who will fight for fairer funding for our communities,’ he said.

‘The people of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are tired of our overstretched police being unable to deliver the level of policing they want and that our communities need. The chief constable has powerfully made that case this morning.’

Mr Murphy added: ‘Unbelievably, while the government boasts of funding new officers, the £2.6m additional funding from central government pays salaries but does not cover the costs of equipping and training these new officers.

‘The force is already needing to plan for cuts elsewhere in future years to be able to pay for the higher numbers of officers coming through.

‘Today’s decision by the Police and Crime Panel to support the proposed annual £15 increase in the council tax funding highlights just how woeful the government funding is.’

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