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F U N D I N G ...... Page 1 of 3 GO TO PAGE 2 OF 3           2007 POLICE numbers could be slashed by a quarter and six police stations forced to close if Lincolnshire Police cannot plug a £7m funding gap in the next year. The stark warning came from senior officers on as they revealed council tax payers could be asked to stump up the cash. It is not known if Mablethorpe station is on the hit list. To enable the force to improve, rate payers would be asked for an average of £2 extra a week . This is one of three options proposed by the force, which is the worst funded in the country by £11m. It says with no promise of extra funding or grants from the Government, the time has come for "radical action". Chief Constable Tony Lake said: "We are not crying wolf. Our operational resilience is very fragile. "Our staff are working very hard to do a good job, but without extra funding we are not going to be able to provide a service the people of Lincolnshire rightly expect. That makes us very vulnerable. Our position is simply no longer tenable. "We have had years of improving the level of service to the public. It would be a tragedy if we had to go backwards and dismantle the good work we have put in already." He said the unpredictability of police work emphasises how perilous the force's financial situation is and referred to the murders of John and Joan Stirland in Trusthorpe in 2004. He said bringing the Nottinghamshire-based criminals to court cost the force more than £1m despite a £1.2m grant from the Home Office. Last Updated: 03 October 2007 10:23 AM blimmin HECK!! John Child cartoons and calendars!! TAKE A QUICK QUIZ NOW !! SOCAP and new arrest powers! Do you know what PCSOs can do? first responders FIRST AID Shimmy's CRUCIAL PCSO TEST KEEPING SAFE ON THE STREETS Officer Safety for PCSOs - master QUIZ micky's anti-social behaviour QUIZ for PCSOs FUN QUIZ (2004) FOR SENIOR FORUM MEMBERS Business training for the police By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor Last Updated: 1:32am GMT 08/01/2007 Police forces could save at least £250 million a year with better management of overtime and reduced payments for sick leave, according to the Treasury. Officials have circulated a paper calling for substantial savings over the next two years in police budgets. One proposal is for police recruits to be given business management training to help them deal with the biggest cash squeeze on forces in years. High-flying officers will be expected to hold a "resource management" qualification alongside their knowledge of the law and self-defence. The Treasury document circulating among police authorities is severely critical of the way the police spend taxpayers' money and says one of the key reasons is a lack of business skills. It wants top officers to focus far more on obtaining value for money from investigations in a bid to save hundreds of millions of pounds as Gordon Brown turns off the funding tap after years of splurge. The Treasury wants £250m saved from the better management of overtime and sickness payments alone and is looking for 3 per cent overall efficiencies. If £250 million could be saved each year, in 2008 and 2009 it would equate to £37m a year needed to be saved by a large shire force like Devon and Cornwall, with an annual budget of around £248m. The squeeze comes as the police face Home Office pressure to improve detection rates and deliver neighbourhood policing promises. The effect is already being felt. Last week, Durham constabulary - Tony Blair's own force - announced that it was shedding 100 officers and others across the country are also feeling the pinch. Cash pressures have already forced John Reid to scale back his manifesto pledge to deliver 25,000 community support officers to just 16,000. The Treasury paper, Delivering a Step Change in Police Productivity, has been sent to police authorities warning of the tighter budget and calling for savings and efficiencies. However, the Treasury doubts the police have the necessary acumen to deliver and says force leaders, not just finance directors, "will need a clear grasp of what resources are going where, why and with what productivity." Force managers would have to record everything their staff do, measure costs and make sure rank-and-file officers are careful with money. The paper suggests introducing a "resource management qualification for ambitious operational officers". It also adds: "Business management to be a core skill in the induction, training and development of all officers." The Treasury says that "a significant change" in police culture is needed to cope with the budget slowdown. It is also highly critical of the way the police spends its money without any apparent comparisons with best practice elsewhere in the country. "Police forces lack data to compare their cost effectiveness with their peers to identify strengths and weaknesses and put performance variation into context," it says. Nick Herbert, the Tory spokesman on police reform said: "The Treasury is right about the potential for efficiency gains, and in particular the need for forces to modernise their workforces and share services, but the Government's tired solution of ever tighter central grip won't work. "What's needed is stronger accountability and a simplified, transparent means of regulating the police to ensure value for money." MP's police concerns MP Greg Barker has expressed his concern at the Government's decision to "abandon" a manifesto pledge to recruit 24,000 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) by March, 2008. Mr Barker says it means Sussex Police, who had been planning for 525 extra PCSOs by next March, will have a net loss of 171 as they will have to take a share of only 16,000 PCSOs nationally. This comes as the police levy on Council Tax across Sussex has soared by over 123 per cent since 1997 to £116 with further hikes expected this April. Mr Barker said: "People want to see a uniformed police presence on their streets to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour and to provide reassurance to their community. "This broken promise will mean fewer Police Community Support Officers in Bexhill and Battle than previously planned, which is a serious loss at a time when violent crime is on the increase. "There is already a feeling that towns such as Bexhill and rural areas such as Robertsbridge and Etchingham do not receive enough local policing when we are all facing ever higher council tax bills." Mr Barker will hold a public meeting to raise local support for the new Sustainable Communities Private Members Bill in Battle, today (Friday). The gathering will take place in Battle Memorial Hall at 6.30pm. It will feature a panel of local community leaders, including Rother District councillors Robert White and Ian Jenkins, who will outline how the draft legislation could empower local communities to draw up and implement an action plan to prevent local economic and high street decline. An expert from the Local Works organization will also be speaking on how parts of the bill can assist local councils and communities to set up local energy schemes. 27 Mar 2007

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Minister under fire over police numbers

16 March 2007 06:15

A Home Office minister came under fire last night after admitting government funding cuts had left police in Norfolk high and dry - and saying the county would be “on its own” in meeting future cash shortfalls.

Policing minister Tony McNulty was visiting the county to hail its new teams of community support officers a success.

Just two months earlier Mr McNulty had slashed £1m from Norfolk police coffers threatening the existence of the very same teams.

The only way the force could pay for the 280 community officers promised by the government was by sacking police officers or raising council tax. Police chiefs opted to increase tax but have been warned financial penalties may now be imposed as punishment.

Stephen Bett, chairman of Norfolk Police Authority, described the visit as “arrogant” adding it displayed a lack of awareness of the impact government policy has had on the area.

Mr McNulty, who visited Sheringham to see neighbourhood policing in action, defended the cuts saying they were “a national decision” which has had “some unfortunate consequences on a local level”.

He added: “We believe neighbourhood policing teams are what the public want. They increase visibility and offer the reassurance people have been calling for and also have the local knowledge to really know what their communities need. Everyone I have spoken to here in Sheringham is in full support of the teams.

“We took the decision to reduce funding for community support officers across the country. At the same time we allowed police forces the flexibility to reduce police officer numbers in order to achieve a balance between traditional officers and community officers.

“That may not have been an option in rural areas like Norfolk where officer numbers per head of population are already low. But with any decision made at a national level there will be some unfortunate implications for some areas.”

Mr McNulty described the cuts as a “levelling off” in funding after a decade of record investment. He said the situation was likely to remain the same in coming years and there was a need to re-examine the role local taxation plays in running public services.

Mr Bett said: “Quite frankly I don't think Tony McNulty cares what the consequences of Home Office policy are for Norfolk because he is on his way out along with everybody else at the department.

“The situation is a complete and utter shambles and for him to visit Norfolk to praise our neighbourhood policing teams after taking a decision to withdraw funding for those teams is nothing short of arrogance.

“The Home Office is only interested in immigration, homelands security and the prison service - it is not interested in the police and is leaving police authorities to pick up the pieces of its mistakes.”

In a further blow, another government office, the Department of Communities and Local Government, has refused to rule out the possibility of “capping” - financial penalties imposed on any authorities that breach council tax targets.

This could include Norfolk Police Authority which increased council tax by 7pc - 2pc above the approved level - and would further stretch a budget already close to breaking point.

A letter from Stephen Claughton, deputy director of local government finance, to the authority states: “I cannot give any commitment in relation to further financial support from the government.

“The government has not yet taken any decisions on the use of its capping powers in 2007-09. Ministers will consider setting capping principles after all authorities have set their budgets. Any authority affected will have the opportunity to challenge its cap before final decisions are taken.”

Mr Bett said: “If the government does choose to cap us, it will have a fight on its hands. The only reason we increased council tax to such a level was to foot the bill for a government scheme which ministers are no longer prepared to pay for.”

Mr McNulty toured Sheringham visiting community centres and areas that have been affected by petty crime. He saw offenders on community service cleaning up graffiti on an estate in the town before attending a public meeting for invited members of the community.

Later he visited Norwich to meet frontline domestic violence workers and see how the new specialist domestic violence Court will operate in the city. There are now more than 60 specialist domestic violence courts across England and Wales, including the one in Norwich which will open in April.

MP to quiz Reid over policing cut
Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at 6:31 am
Shrewsbury’s MP Daniel Kawczynski has called on Home Secretary John Reid to explain why Shropshire has been left 30 police community support officers short.

Last year, West Mercia Police Shropshire Divisional Command announced it was implementing the Government’s policy on Neighbourhood Policing Teams by adding 92 community support officers, bringing the total to 108.

But the number of community support officers in Shropshire has now been cut to 78 - a shortfall of 30 officers.

“I have asked the Home Secretary why Shropshire has been left with 30 fewer community police officers than expected,” Mr Kawczynski said.

“I have asked him to clarify where the funding for the 30 officers has disappeared to. It is very important that the proper level of funding is secured straight away to bring the expected level of community policing to our county.”

May 20th, 2007

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