27 August 2010
The police watchdog – Kent Police Authority - has asked shoppers where they would save money in the policing service. Kent Police Authority visited the County Square Shopping Centre, Ashford last week, to ask for views from the police council taxpayers on what they would do if they were the budget holder.
A total of 142 people took part in the Ashford road show and results were as follows:
- Back office - police civilian staff (27 per cent)
- No answer (27 per cent)
- Back office - police officers (17 per cent)
- Neighbourhood policing e.g. local police constables and police community support officers (14 per cent)
- Specialist tactical policing units e.g. firearms, dogs unit, marine unit (six per cent)
- Investigations (five per cent)
- 999 call handlers (three per cent)
- Emergency response teams e.g. the patrol cars that respond to an emergency call (one per cent)
Back office posts were considered the main categories where savings could potentially be made. This was broken down into two categories. Police Officers that are in desk based functions at Police Headquarters, e.g. crime prevention roles, and civilian staff that provide support, and help to run the organisation e.g. through departments such as Finance, Human Resources, Research, Corporate Communications.
The summer road shows follows the announcement that the Police Authority will have to find over £20million in the next three years.
Chair of Kent Police Authority, Ann Barnes, attended the road show along with Kent Police Authority member, Steve Hiscock and local Police Community Support Officers.
Ann Barnes, Chair of the Kent Police Authority said: ‘One of the roles of the Police Authority is to consult with the public. Our countywide road shows allow us to speak face-to-face with the public on saving money. It’s not just the police, but all public sector services are going to have to make financial cuts of some kind. There are some really hard choices to make and we are looking at all the categories. It’s interesting to note that some people did not cast a vote. It really is hard to cut back on any one area of policing, as they are all so important. The Authority and Force will have to make a tough decision in the autumn, we are expecting to lose 20 – 40 per cent of our Government police budget.’
All the information from the road shows will be fed back to the Chief Constable, and will be considered at a Police Authority budget meeting in early 2011.
There’s still time to vote. For those who weren’t able to cast a vote at Ashford – you can vote online. There is a dedicated Facebook page called ‘Where would you make savings in Kent Police.’ The site can also be accessed via the Kent Police Authority website – www.kentpoliceauthority.gov.uk