Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced an extra £100million to boost neighbourhood policing – but force bosses have warned they need more support
Labour today pledged to plough an extra £100million into neighbourhood policing to boost the number of officers on the ground.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the commitment will be a “major turning point for policing in this country”. It comes as chief constables warn they could have to make cuts despite a £1billion funding boost announced last year.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said she was “not pretending” that forces are not facing funding challenges. The new government has pledged to increase neighbourhood teams by 13,000 officers, PCSOs and special constables by 2029 after years of Tory cutbacks. Ms Cooper said: “By doubling extra neighbourhood funding to £200million, we are giving forces across the country what they need to put more officers and PCSOs where they’re needed most – on our streets and in our town centres.
“Every neighbourhood deserves dedicated officers who know their patch, understand residents’ concerns and can tackle problems before they escalate.”
Dame Diana said more officers on the ground would help to target antisocial behaviour and record levels of shoplifting. Ministers set out a provisional 3.5% real-terms increase in funding for forces, with a £986.9 million package in December. But this was short of the £1.3billion extra cash force bosses said they would need.
Dame Diana said: “I’m not pretending that it isn’t difficult and challenging for police forces. Obviously Police and Crime Commissioners and chief constables have to make decisions locally about what’s the best makeup of their force in terms of police officers.”
The Labour frontbencher added that the Government was “starting from a difficult position” after 14 years under the Conservatives. She added: “Those police forces, and I’m very well aware of Essex and Lincolnshire, those police forces that are struggling, we want to work with them. We want to make this work.”
Lincolnshire Police has said its share was a “tiny percentage” of what it needed and warned it could have to cut up to 400 officer and staff jobs. Essex Police said the extra £100 million would go “some way” to bridging its £5.3 million funding gap.
Lincolnshire chief constable Paul Gibson said: “There may be some potential extra money to support the neighbourhood policing pledge. We welcome any additional funding that is allocated to policing but unfortunately this will be a tiny percentage of what we need.”
Total funding to police forces will be up to £17.5 billion next year under the new government’s final settlement, an increase of up to £1.1 billion on the previous year.
The 13,000 neighbourhood officers could be newly recruited or they could be “currently serving officers being moved into neighbourhood roles”, a No 10 spokesman said.
Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, who chairs the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) said: “We welcome the investment in neighbourhood policing, which is a vital part of how we engage with our communities, building trust and confidence locally.
“Working with our communities and partners to problem solve, tackle anti-social behaviour, supporting victims of domestic abuse, and diverting young people from offending are just some examples of the challenging and rewarding work officers do.”