Norfolk Constabulary might have to reduce the number of frontline police officers and may not be able to properly investigate all burglaries, without an increase in its share of council tax.
Police and crime commissioner Giles Orpen-Smellie has proposed the maximum allowed rise in the police council tax precept, as the force struggles to cope with rising costs.
It would see the part of bills earmarked for policing rise by 5.2% with families paying an extra £14.94 a year in a band D property and £11.62 for band B households.
Mr Orpen-Smellie said he was “between a rock and a hard place” in seeking to stave off cutbacks to areas like visible policing and detective investigators as the force tried to cope with the impact of inflation.
The cost of keeping police vehicles on the road alone is set to rise by 60%, with the fuel bill spiralling from £1m to an estimated £1.6m next year.
Police are also seeing increased costs from pay rises and energy bills.
The Home Office has said that Norfolk Constabulary will receive an extra £7.4m on top of its £197m budget next year if council tax goes up by the maximum amount.
However, without the tax rise it will receive far less, with central government putting in only an extra £1.9m.
Mr Orpen-Smellie said: “The other £5.4m comes from an assumption that I will put up the precept by £15. So the government has in a sense already pre-judged my decision with the announcement Norfolk will get £7.4m.
“I am slightly between a rock and a hard place because with pay inflation at 5% and ordinary inflation, which police suffer from just as much as everyone else, at 10% plus that 5.2% on the precept doesn’t make up the deal.”
Norfolk chief constable Paul Sanford has sought 3% savings across every department.
But the PCC said the funding gap meant there would still be cutbacks, though he was confident these would not have an impact on frontline policing, provided a tax rise was secured.
“I am hopeful, and the conservations I’m having with the chief constable and his team suggest, those will not be visible to the public,” he said.
“There will not be a reduction in visible policing or our efforts to tackle crime, but there will be effects on backroom functions and it is a case of how much more can the police budget be cut?”
Norfolk Police Federation, the body that represents rank and file officers, has warned the proposed funding will not ease the pressure on a service “consistently stretched beyond their capacity”.
Chairman Andy Symonds said: “It’s costing us hundreds of thousands of pounds more each year just to get to the incidents we’re called to.
“It’s as simple as officers filling up their patrol vehicles, or keeping stations reasonably warm and comfortable for officers to work in.
“So when you take that into account, it eats it away very quickly, which means that we’re just treading water.”
Launching a public consultation on his proposed council tax rise, the PCC said with Norfolk’s 1,800 police officers protected, cutbacks would fall on backroom staff.
"The government is saying I cannot touch police officer numbers but I could therefore hollow out police staff,” he said.
“A lot of people would think there are too many administrators when there are 1,300 police staff, but a lot of those are investigating officers and one of the areas where we are thin on the ground at the moment are detectives, whether they are serving officers or civilians employed in detective roles.
“People who suffer burglaries or other crimes want investigations into their cases to be progressed and we can only do that if we have detectives.”
Mr Orpen-Smellie said he was also determined to ensure any cuts did not have any impact on the vetting of officers and professional standards.
“We know how much damage has been done to public confidence in policing not least because of the tragedy of Sarah Everard but also because of other things and Norfolk hasn’t been completely clean in this,” he said.
“If you start to hollow that out and you get more Wayne Couzens slipping through the net and you lose public confidence.”
The council tax precept public consultation runs until January 16. Views can be submitted online or at a series of meetings across the county.
Where to have your say
- Thursday 5 Jan – Thetford Library 10am-1pm
- Friday 6 Jan – Dereham Library 2-4pm
- Thursday 12 Jan – Swaffham Community Centre 2-4pm
- Friday 13 Jan – Diss Library 10.30am -12.30pm
- Friday 13 Jan – Wymondham Library 1.30-3.30pm
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