Kent PCC planning funds for 180 extra officers

10 January 2019

New police recruits in Kent will help ease some of the stress and demand current officers are having to deal with, says Kent Police Federation.

The county’s Police and Crime Commissioner is planning a £2 Council Tax precept increase, funds which would be ringfenced to pay for frontline officers.

It would equate to around 180 extra officers which would represent the ‘biggest recruitment drive in Kent police history', according to the PCC.

The Federation is supporting the planned investment, but Chairman Chris Carter says funds should be coming from central Government, not from hard-pressed Council Tax payers.

He also says more officers are needed to get the force back up to full strength.

“We welcome and support the planned investment in frontline policing, but we are concerned that increasingly the policing burden is falling upon local tax payers when really we would like to see a central Government funding increase for policing in Kent.

“And we’ve still got a long way to go to where we were before the cuts began.

“We went from 3,700 officers down to 3,200, and with the increases from last year and this coming year that should bring us back to around 3,500-3,600 officers.

“So, whilst it’s a really needed improvement in numbers it still doesn’t take us back to where we were.”

He hopes that having new colleagues on board will help strengthen force resilience – especially as the county will be on the frontline of any no-deal or post Brexit issues.

“It gives us greater resilience and it helps to share the workload on the frontline, of which there is no denial that demand has increased in terms of calls, in terms of crime reports that officers are having to deal with.

“So, the more officers we have on the frontline to share that workload it’s got to be better for our existing members, although naturally with the two-year probationary period, the real effectiveness of our new officers might not be felt for another year.”

A proper, transparent review of police funding is still needed despite the potential local funding boost, Chris said.

“Like so many other forces we desperately need the investment, so we’ll accept the precept increase.  However, the responsibility for funding policing should be the Home Office’s.

“The problem is that funding is very piecemeal, it’s all smoke and mirrors and is confusing for the public,” he added.

“We end up with reannouncements of the same money coming, then there’s a total announcement including local precept increase money, and then you’ll get some centrally funded grants for things like counter-terrorism or bespoke areas of policing rather than the whole picture.

“We are pushing for a proper, strategic review of what’s expected of policing and then a proper funding announcement accordingly.”