Friday, April 04, 2008
Chief Constable defends extra cash for policing...
Lincoln residents turned up at a public meeting to hear Chief Constable Tony Lake defend the controversial 78.9% hike in the amount they pay in council tax for policing...and were told the numbers of extra officers they will get for their extra £2 a week.
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2 comments:
I am confused - I thought for the local force to stand still they required an extra £7m for this year? Now, the Chief Constable has indicated proposals for more staff. I have done a quick and indeed unsophisticated calculation to take account of employer costs for one year:
120 PCs @£30,000 £3,600,000
42 PCSO &£20,000 £ 840,000
230 Support &£20,000 £5,750,000
I think I may have underestimated the cost of the support workers. This means that the additional staff are costing over £10m each year - have I calculated this accurately as the mind boggles! This is astonishing given the recent report by the Chief Inspector of Police stating that police budgets would continue to fail to meet demand and the need for police forces to combine administrative tasks such as HR etc - this is costing small forces a fortune. At a time when public finances are tight, policing is under scrutiny for its ineffectiveness given huge budget increases. Regardless, Lincolnshire want to increase staffing by some 25%. In five years time when police forces will have to merge because of economy of scale, we will be paying a fortune in redundancy payments to all these support staff.
It is right that the Chief Constable wants as many staff as he can get - the illusion still exists that more money means better effectiveness. All public services make demands and we have Ministers to act on behalf of the taxpayer. My difficulties lie with the Authority who are supposed to provide the checks and balances. I know that you were against the higher increase Phil and I use the Authority in a general term. It is the Authority that has let local people down - not the Chief Constable.
Ever wondered how the boys in blue massage the crime figures so as to hit their targets and keep Gordon happy.
Click HERE to see how.
A memo, from Norfolk Police, suggested officers have a target to "keep recorded crime down" and should only record crime if there is evidence.
the phrase 2told you so" springs to mind!
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