By Local Democracy Reporter
Steve Shaw
THURROCK Council’s plan to pay for police officers out of its own pocket will create a new team focussed on working within the community and preventing crime it is claimed.
The team of up to nine officers are costing the council £1 million over the next three years and will work within the civic offices, alongside other agencies and charities.
They will remain accountable to Essex Police and focus on preventing anti-social behaviour by taking work aimed at preventing crime. For the most part, they will not be responsible for attending emergency calls.
Details of the plan were first outlined in a report which said the council would pay for the recruitment and training of five new police officers and a sergeant over three years at a cost of £1million.
It added that Essex Police also planned to provide another three officers, noting that it is “eight police officers and a sergeant working within the community of Thurrock”.
However, the Police later confirmed that the three officers are already operating in Thurrock as part of the Community Policing Team and will simply move over to work alongside the council-funded team.
On top of the £1million paid out through the council, taxpayers are also being asked to pay an extra £24 in their council tax bills as part of a county-wide increase in police funding.
Crime commissioner Roger Hirst claims this will mean an extra 215 police officers being recruited but it has not been confirmed how many will be in Thurrock.
An increase of £11 last year boosted the number in Thurrock by 15, however Essex is a long way from making up for the hundreds of officers cut since 2010.
Councillor Luke Spillman of the Thurrock Independent Party branded the council plans “out of touch with reality”.
He said: “The Tories celebrated cooking the books to make it look like there’s is more investment going into front line policing than there is. They celebrated increasing your council tax to replace a fraction of police which the Conservative government have previously cut.”
But the leader of the council, Councillor Rob Gledhill, hit back at the Independent Party for failing to understand public finance.
“When the last Labour Government was spending £6 for every £4 raised in tax the deficit had to be tackled and this Conservative Government is doing just that,” he said.
“We hear continuously from both opposition parties in Thurrock that there are not enough police but they don’t come up with any solution as to how to pay for them.
“The Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner asked for an average of £1 per month last year for more police and £2 per month in the coming year to put more police on the street. On top of this the Conservative administration is using £1million of its one off investment surpluses to put more police on the street in Thurrock over the next three years, so those officers will not cost the taxpayer one single penny.
“Hopefully the opposition parties will be agreeing the 0 per cent Council Tax rise this year for general Council Tax. This will mean the just over £2 per month increase in Council Tax this year will be ploughed directly into paying for more police on the street and to further support the Essex Fire and Rescue Service, something I am sure most residents will agree with.”
Councillor Rob Gledhill, Wrote
“When the last Labour Government was spending £6 for every £4 raised in tax the deficit had to be tackled and this Conservative Government is doing just that,” he said.”
My reply.
You could of done that in your first week cut the money to the zombie banksters who crashed the economy. THERE DEAD ANYWAY. its only a matter of time they cannot survive new more efficient ones will replace them. its called capitalism something Thatcher killed for neoliberalism.
Its called living within your means. a something for nothing culture?
But you doubbled down further.
The debt is going up. The National Debt has DOUBBLING+ under Conservative rule.
They have given austarity to the people. Ok. But they didnt to the banksters giving them Hundreds of billions each month over the years. National debt has gone from 1 to near 2.1 Trillion under your Conservative leadership.
When the Interest rates go up will you claim
individual personal responsibility
for this great country being wiped out?
They claim to be the party fiscally responsible but the economy crashes under Thacher, Heath, Major and Cameron/May have just set the next one up.
We Will be going cap in hand to the EU or IMF.
No because a large part of our economy is financial services based meaning we have nothing to offer the EU or IMF after the crash. Business is Business after all.
If I had my way I would put every New Labour and Tory up against the wall for this.
Gledhill, I will let you stand in between May and Blair. I’m a compassionate Conservative after all.
Northern Ireland is rolling in money after the Tories used our money to bribe the DUP/UVF into supporting them.
Yeah Rocket bribing those DUP/UVF MP’s
And looks like bribing Labour MP’s now too. May said THERE IS NO MAGIC MONEY TREE is there 🙂
Us Serfs will have to just live within our means paying back all The debt they have RACKED UP on to our books for the rest of our lives.
May calls this fiscally responsible. I call it criminal.Well it is bribery.
The differance is if I do it I go to jail and lose everything if they do it they are above the law. “Too big to fail Too big to jail”.
We British people are just serfs and thats all we will ever be to them.
I now see in the news a QC has said about May may could be in trouble with the Bribery Act 2010.
Maybe she will get off she could bribe the Jury?.
Catching the Bus – I think Prime Monster Theresa Mayhem would go one step further and bribe the judge.
Too be honest I didnt think of that one.
She can do that at the private members club they both go too.