COMMENT: Surely a price worth paying on policing?

Hampshire's police and crime commissioner Michael Lane was straight off the mark when he received news from Whitehall yesterday about a change in funding rules.

Government announced it would allow crime commissioners to increase their slice of the council tax by £2 a month for a band D property.

He wasted no time in putting in his bid to implement the increase in Hampshire, which is recognised as being under-funded by around £45m, with heavy budget cuts and the loss of nearly 1,000 officers in recent years.

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Mr Lane's request, which will require ratification by the county council (hopefully without contention, would provide an extra £25m funding, enabling Hampshire Police to recruit and train 200 new officers and 60 new staff investigators.

But before we get too carried away, Mr Lane is not breaking out the bubbly, noting only that the extra funding will mean Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney can maintain '˜the same level of policing' in Hampshire.

Running to stand still, in other words.

Since taking office, Mr Lane will have heard many residents bemoan a perceived lack of bobbies on the beat, and repeated surveys show that even when statistics show crime rates are falling, a fear of crime haunts the nation.

Will the same residents who want to see more police on the streets now complain about having to pay more on their council tax, we wonder?

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It is part of human nature to complain about rising costs, but, deep down, we understand that we pay our taxes to provide the luxuries of life in a civilised society, such as roads, schools, hospitals and policing.  

What is harder to understand is how public funding has fallen so far short of paying for the services we require.

Maybe when the fog of Brexit is clear, the next government, of whatever colour, will be able to provide some answers.