Police purses are empty

Increased spending (on policing) this year comes from sources other than central government

In March 2018, the government announced that police funding is set to ‘increase by £460 million in 2018/19’.

Compared to 2017, there are no changes in the size of the grants each police force receives from the government. Since inflation is above 2% these budgets are likely facing real terms reductions in funding.

So this extra money is either coming from other sources, or going to other areas of police spending.

A maximum of £280 million is being raised by allowing police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to raise council tax in their areas, by up to £1 a month for a ‘typical’ band D household. They already have the power to raise local taxes to an extent, but the change allows for greater increases without having to trigger a local referendum.

fullfact.org/crime/police-funding-england-and-wales/

And just to add to my rant about the cost of Police Crime Commissioners, the Chief Constable of Cheshire was suspended by the PCC for Cheshire, for alleged gross misconduct prior to March 2017.

The hearing took place before an independent tribunal in December last where he faced 74 charges. He was cleared of all charges and the majority of the complainants were found to be economic with the truth.

The cost of this folly by the PCC is just short of £1 million.

How many officers would that supply?

The Government has to stop starving LAs, the Police etc of money

People have to stop voting for them. And stop believing the lie about national budgets being like household budgets.

We could afford to fund the police, schools, the NHS, etc.

This is what 'shrinking the State' is all about. It's tory policy.

We'll revert to locally funded police forces, like in Victorian times, and in about 50 years time someone will propose that they could be centrally funded by the State..

PCCs were a nonsense introduced by David Cameron, while at the same time cutting police budgets to the bone. My DH was a member of police staff; his force has lost over 1000 officers in the last few years while being faced with more and more demands eg cyber crime and historical sex abuse, not to mention the increasingly strident demands of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary which expects several gallons to be crammed into a pint pot. DH nearly drove himself into the ground trying to keep on top of things but thank God I managed to persuade him to retire in December. He's just about caught up with his sleep and has cut down on the booze...

I assumed this £2 per month would be a ringfenced charge to go directly to the Police - I would rather extra was paid to them out of taxation and not in the same way as having our garden waste removed - a separate charge on our council tax!

The Government has to stop starving LAs, the Police etc of money so that those running essential services do not have to hand round the begging bowl.

It's interesting that you posted this today, Gabriella because yesterday there were two people outside the supermarket when I came out wanting to know if I would be willing to pay £2 extra per month to fund more police officers. I said yes and they wanted me to fill in a questionnaire but I didn't have time.

I thought about this later and decided that this is not the way I want my public services funded - I want them to be properly and honestly funded.

We have a Police and Crime Commissioner here and that is to my mind just another unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. I voted against having one.

we dont have Police Crime Commissioners here in Scotland ,we've also cut costs on Top brass salaries by the amalgamation of forces so its all Police Scotland now and less big wigs taking big salaries in the regions.
I'll wait for the cry of the disaster Police Scotland has been but as I'm around them in a proffessional sense every few weeks I can say thats not what it appears to me.
There have been issues and of course that is to be expected when ANY large organisation changes how it works /is manned .
On the whole the intake of new recruits is higher and they are motivated and eager to do the job .Police numbers are UP by around 1000 over the past few years and recruits from all walks of life are encouraging...ethnic minorities/EU nationals and many more women .THey have been a great bunch of young people this past year ,even if their handwriting leaves a lot to be desired .

Perhaps a good move would be to get rid of the Police Crime Commissioners and revert back to the council police authorities.

When you look at the costs of the PCC's it is staggering, examples are (for 2017/2018):
Wiltshire £2.2m
Leicestershire £1.1m
Cheshire £ 2.5m
Merseyside Salaries only £850k

Imagine how these figures could help local policing at the sharp end and don't get me started on senior police officers salaries.

We got asked by the comissioner which we would like to see prioritised in our area, street crime or burglary.
Um BOTH!!!!

No, but I work very closely with a bunch of completely dedicated police officers and PCSO's and I would happily pay the extra tax to a) keep the few we have and b) invest n employing more.